Ecuador’s earthquake death toll rose to 350 on Monday as rescuers hunted for survivors, victims clamored for aid and looting broke out in the Andean nation’s shattered coastal region.
More than 2,000 were also injured in Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude quake, which ripped apart buildings and roads and knocked out power along the Pacific coastline.
President Rafael Correa, giving the new tally of fatalities from the town of Portoviejo inside the disaster zone, told Reuters the number of dead had increased to 350 but said he feared the number would rise further.
“Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars,” said Correa, as survivors begged him for water.
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A collapsed home after an earthquake in the city of Guayaquil on April 17, 2016.
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A flurry of aftershocks hit southwestern Japan on Saturday as rescuers scrambled to reach trapped survivors of two big quakes that killed at least 35 people. About 190 suffered serious injuries, according to the government.
Evacuation orders were issued for areas vulnerable to landslides amid powerful thunderstorms in the area, the government’s main spokesman Yoshihide Suga said in an evening press briefing.
“There are still sporadic aftershocks from this morning’s earthquake, and so there is still a need to be vigilant,” Suga warned.
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College students carry blankets and food toward a gym-turned shelter as a damaged apartment building is seen in the background after an earthquake in Minamiaso village, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, April 16. Yuki Sato / Kyodo News via AP
A major earthquake struck the remote Afghan northeast on Monday, killing more than 200 people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan, injuring hundreds and sending shock waves as far as New Delhi, officials said.
The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range where the quake was centered.
In one of the worst incidents, at least 12 girls were killed in a stampede to flee their school building in Taloqan, just west of Badakhshan province where the tremor’s epicenter was located.
“They fell under the feet of other students,” said Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency, who reported heavy damage in Takhar.
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Shockwaves were felt in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
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A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on Saturday, killing hundreds, destroying homes and ancient temples, and triggering at least one avalanche on Mount Everest.
A police official said 449 people have been confirmed dead in Nepal, The Associated Press reported. Some 30 died in neighboring countries where the quake was felt, including 20 in India, AP added.
Reuters reported that 688 people had died, quoting a senior home ministry source. There was no explanation for the different estimates and NBC News was not able to immediately confirm the death toll.
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