The death toll from a powerful earthquake that shook the northwestern coast of Ecuador surged to 272 on Sunday, and hundreds more were injured, the country's presidential office said.
Ecuador is in a state of emergency Sunday after a 7.8 magnitude quake flattened buildings and towns stricken before 07:00 (20:00 ET) on Saturday.
"Thanks to the whole world for solidarity," President Rafael Correa, who cut short a trip to Italy to return home, said on Twitter. "Our infinite Love to the family of the dead."
Correa, who toured the coastal city of Manta to get a direct look at the damage Sunday, then said: "The urgent priority is to save people in the rubble Everything can be rebuilt, but life can not be restored, and that's what hurts. Most."
More than 2,500 people were injured, authorities said. At least 370 buildings were destroyed, and over 151 buildings and 26 schools affecting
We have a building in three to four stories high just, you know, the effect of pancakes and they were all in the basement right now, "said resident Juan Fernando Rojas.
Correa said the quake is the strongest earthquake that hit Ecuador since 1979. He said some areas had lost power and warn people to be careful to avoid falling debris and poles.
A state of emergency is declared for the province of Esmeraldas, Los Rios, Manabi, Santa Elena, Guayas and Santo Domingo. The quake was strongly felt in the capital, Quito, about 100 miles away.
Vice President Jorge Glas said that 10,000 military troops and 3,500 police were deployed to the affected areas and that the $ 600 million allocated for emergency loans. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry said five helicopters and more than 80 buses transporting 4,000 police to the quake zone.
On Sunday night, the government was calling on the 2,000 additional officers to help "strengthen security" in the region, the country's deputy minister of internal security, Diego Fuentes Acosta, told a news conference. He added that the government was in "100 percent of operational capacity" in there.
More than 1,200 Red Cross volunteers are also helping to provide first aid and seek an unspecified number of people missing. glass said. However, the heavy equipment can not be used in the rescue because such equipment may put people injured at greater risk. He pleaded with the people who flooded the streets, with no shelter, "be quiet so that rescuers can hear congratulations."
Vanessa Santos says authorities have said that the whole family is buried. "I have to find my baby," she said. "It's been five hours since she disappeared."
Authorities say landslides, collapsed bridges and roads that make it difficult for emergency workers to reach the cities hardest hit.
"We're trying to do the most we can, but there is almost nothing we can do," said Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, a town of 40,000 near the epicenter, according to The Associated Press.
Alcivar begged the authorities for sending earth moving machines and emergency rescue workers as dozens of buildings flattened, trapping residents among the debris. He said that looting broke out in the midst of chaos but the authorities are too busy trying to save the life to rebuild the order.
"It's not just a house collapsed. It was the whole city," he said.
In a bulletin, the state Geophysical Institute described "major damage" in the epicenter area and in Guayaquil, the largest city in the country, about 200 miles south.
Video posted online shows a shopping center in Portoviejo damage and the crowds in the street outside as the alarm rings. One hundred inmates escaped from prisons damaged, said Justice Minister Ledy Zuniga. Some voluntarily surrendered, he then added, and on Sunday afternoon about 30 have been re-arrested.
NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the tsunami may have largely passed.
A small earthquake 4.5 on the Richter scale was recorded along the coast south of Maine about half an hour before the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck, the USGS said. At least 135 aftershocks followed, one as strong as magnitude-6, and authorities urged residents to brace for the people who are stronger in the coming hours and days.
The US State Department said there were no reports of US citizens killed in the earthquake while the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said two Canadians were killed. In a statement, US Secretary of State John Kerry praised "the courage and skill of the first responders."
"We keep in close contact with the Ecuadorian authorities and will continue to monitor the situation closely," the statement added.
The quake occurred just a few days after the first pair of powerful and deadly earthquake rocked southwestern Japan. At least 41 people were killed Thursday and Saturday, public broadcaster NHK reported.
David Rothery, a planetary geosciences professor at the Open University, northeast of London, said that the total energy released by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake on Saturday in Ecuador is "probably about 20 times larger" than the magnitude-7.0 earthquake in Japan on Saturday
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