In an address from the stricken city of Portoviejo, President Rafael Correa said that rescue crews believed that some people remained alive underneath collapsed buildings.
"The pain is immense, but the spirit of the Ecuadorian people is greater," Correa said. "We will move forward from this."
More than 2,000 people were injured in the earthquake, which hit the South American country's northwest coast at 6:58 p.m. Saturday (7:58 p.m. ET), Vice President Jorge Glas said Sunday. The number of casualties was expected to continue rising as authorities scour the region for a long list of missing people, he said.
Correa warned the death toll would "surely rise, and in a considerable way."
Ecuador's president rushed home Sunday to coordinate rescue and recovery efforts after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed at least 272 people and injured thousands more.
In an address from the stricken city of Portoviejo, President Rafael Correa said that rescue crews believed that some people remained alive underneath collapsed buildings.
"The pain is immense, but the spirit of the Ecuadorian people is greater," Correa said. "We will move forward from this."
More than 2,000 people were injured in the earthquake, which hit the South American country's northwest coast at 6:58 p.m. Saturday (7:58 p.m. ET), Vice President Jorge Glas said Sunday. The number of casualties was expected to continue rising as authorities scour the region for a long list of missing people, he said.
Correa warned the death toll would "surely rise, and in a considerable way."
Rescue workers in the city of Manta search through the rubble for survivors with the help of trained dogs on Sunday. ARIEL OCHOA / AFP - Getty Images
The State Department said there were no reports of U.S. citizens killed in the quake, while Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said two Canadians were killed.
The earthquake quake hit about a half-hour after a smaller 4.5-magnitude quake was recorded along the coast south of Muisne, the U.S. Geological Survey said. At least 135 aftershocks followed, one as strong as a magnitude 6 — and authorities urged residents to brace for even stronger ones in the coming hours and days.
The quake was strongly felt in country's capital, Quito, about 100 miles away. In in the country's most populated city of Guayaquil, around than 200 miles from the epicenter, an overpass collapsed and crushed a car, killing a person inside.
were in the province of Manabi, where Portoviejo and Manta are located, Glas said.
Glas said that 10,000 military troops and 3,500 police officers were initially dispatched to the affected areas and that $600 million in credit had been allotted to the emergency.
The government called in 2,000 more officers Sunday night to help "reinforce security" in the region, Diego Fuentes Acosta, the country's vice minister of internal security, said at a news conference.
Correa, who cut short a trip to Italy to return home, said the immediate priority was the search and rescue mission. "Everything can be rebuilt, but lives cannot be recovered, and that's what hurts the most," he said.
More than 1,200 Red Cross volunteers were helping render first aid and search for the large number of missing people, Glas said. But their heavy machinery couldn't be used because the equipment could put wounded people at greater risk.
Meanwhile, the U.N. emergency agency UNICEF delivered 20,000 water purification tablets to the city of Pedernales, in the hardest-hit region.
"We're from the Bay Area. We feel earthquakes," Gandelman told NBC station KCRA of Sacramento. "But this was pretty intense — more than anything we've felt in the Bay Area."
Freedman told NBC Bay Area that he saw entire buildings that had been caved in and crumbled cement littering the town.
"It started, and there was a big boom, and everyone ran out of the restaurant," Freedman said. "And then it went completely dark."
Freedman said many of the buildings were made of cement, like the sidewalks, which he said he saw crumbling before his eyes.
"We had no way to get out. We had no place to go," he said. "And we had to go back and get our stuff, so if a tsunami had happened, I don't think we would have made it out."
Seeking security from any unrest, about 400 residents of Portoviejo gathered Sunday night on the tarmac of the city's former airport, where authorities handed out water, mattresses and food.
Shantytowns and cheaply constructed brick and concrete homes were reduced to rubble along the quake's path. In the coastal town of Chamanga, authorities estimated than 90 percent of homes had damage, while in Guayaquil a shopping center's roof fell in and a collapsed highway overpass crushed a car, killing the driver.
Seeking security from any unrest, about 400 residents of Portoviejo gathered Sunday night on the
The quake damaged El Rodeo prison in the city of Portoviejo, allowing about 100 prisoners to escape, Justice Minister Ledy Zúñiga said. About 30 had been recaptured by Sunday night, Zúñiga said.
Seeking security from any unrest, about 400 residents of Portoviejo gathered Sunday night on the tarmac of the city's former airport, where authorities handed out water, mattresses and food.
Shantytowns and cheaply constructed brick and concrete homes were reduced to rubble along the quake's path. In the coastal town of Chamanga, authorities estimated than 90 percent of homes had damage, while in Guayaquil a shopping center's roof fell in and a collapsed highway overpass crushed a car, killing the driver.
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