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Dozens are dead after the earthquake hit Ecuador Saturday night. Officials have declared a state of emergency for six provinces.Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Rescue workers work to pull out survivors trapped in a collapsed building after a huge earthquake struck, in the city of Manta early on April 17, 2016. At least 41 people were killed when a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador, destroying buildings and sending terrified residents dashing from their homes, authorities said late on April 16.(Photo: Ariel Ochoa/AFP/Getty Images)
The death toll from Ecuador's massive magnitude-7.8 earthquake climbed to 233, President Rafael Correa announced<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sunday.
The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades also injured at least 588, government officials said, although the numbers could go higher.
Correa declared a national emergency and urged Ecuadoreans to stay strong.
“Everything can be rebuilt, but what can’t be rebuilt are human lives, and that’s the most painful,” he said in a phone call to state TV before departing Rome straight for Manta.
The earthquake Saturday night<span style="color: Red;">*</span>toppled buildings, damaged roads and impacted cities hundreds of miles away from its epicenter near the small fishing village of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Muisne.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>More than 135 aftershocks have been felt,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Ecuador’s seismological institute.
Landslides complicated<span style="color: Red;">*</span>emergency workers efforts to reach some areas hardest hit. Many survivors were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, as rescue workers try to pull them out.
"These are very difficult moments," said Ecuador's Vice President Jorge Glas, who had taken charge of recovery efforts until<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Correa returned<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Vatican conference.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"We have information that there are injured people who are trapped (under rubble)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in different districts and we are getting ready to rescue them."
The quake caused damage as far away as 300 miles south of the epicenter. In the port city of Guayaquil, an overpass<span style="color: Red;">*</span>collapsed on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a car, killing the driver and seriously injuring the passenger, Colombian broadcaster<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Noticias Caracol<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Several other buildings were damaged, and the roof of a shopping center in Guayaquil collapsed.
The government has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>deployed 10,000 armed forces<span style="color: Red;">*</span>plus an additional 3,500 national police officers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to the regions that were hit.
Glas, in a televised address, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the death toll would likely rise.
"No Ecuadorian is alone," he said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in a message on Twitter. "We are a strong ... nation that is united and will emerge stronger from this disaster."
Ningún ecuatoriano está solo. Somos una nación fuerte, solidaria, que está unida y saldrá fortalecida de esta emergencia.
— Jorge Glas (@JorgeGlas) April 17, 2016
The Ecuador quake comes after<span style="color: Red;">*</span>two powerful earthquakes hit Japan last week, killing at least<span style="color: Red;">*</span>41 people.
Pope<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Francis, addressing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, asked<span style="color: Red;">*</span>them<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to pray for those suffering in the aftermath of the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"May the help of God and of neighbors give them strength and support,” he said.
The National Polytechnic Institute's Geological Institute said the Ecuador earthquake<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is poised to become the strongest in that country<span style="color: Red;">*</span>since 1979, when a magnitude-8.0 quake occurred near Tumaco, Colombia, and triggered a tsunami. It's the deadliest quake to effect Ecuador since a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>magnitude-7.2 quake in March<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1987 left about<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1,000 dead, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Since 1900, there have been seven magnitude-7.0 quakes within 155 miles of the epicenter of Saturday's massive earthquake, according to the geological survey.
Saturday's earthquake could also be felt in northern Peru and southern Colombia. No injuries were reported there. A tsunami warning was issued Saturday night for the coasts of Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Panama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and Peru, but that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>threat has mostly passed, the National Weather Service's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
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"There had been some small tremors going on for about two or three months, and I thought it was one of those but after about 20, 30 seconds it started to get really strong," Cristian Ibarra Santillan in Quito<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told the BBC.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"And I grabbed my dog and I hid under the table. But then I realized that it wasn't going away so I just ran with him outside."
David Rothery, a professor of planetary geosciences at The Open University, northeast of London, told the Associated Press that the total energy released by the magnitude-7.8 quake in Ecuador was “probably about 20 times greater” than the magnitude-7.0 quake in Japan early Saturday.
The Ecuador earthquake began deeper underground than the recent Japan quake, which would have lessened the shaking on the ground. But Ecuador is experiencing a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>greater loss of life and greater damage to property than Japan, because of its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>less stringent construction codes.
Rothery added that “there is no causal relationship between the earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan,” the AP said.
Contributing : Steph Solis
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