Rescuers Race against Time after Massive Ecuador Quake

CBN News Latin America Correspondent Javier Bolanos reports on the 7.8 quake that rocked Ecuador.

The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in 37 years flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast, killing hundreds and the death toll is still rising.

Ecuador's government said late Monday the death toll has now climbed to 413 from the monstrous quake. Thousands were injured and tens of thousands had to be evacuated as the tremors struck along the Pacific "Ring of Fire."

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The magnitude-7.8 quake is the third quake to hit along the Pacific Coast after Japan was hit by a 6.5 quake Thursday and a second one on Friday. More than 40 were killed in Japan.

In Ecuador on Sunday, Christians prayed for the victims of the nation's worst earthquake in decades. Amid the rubble, the desperate search for survivors continued. Time is running out to reach survivors still trapped.

"My little nephew was inside," one woman cried, as rescuers nearby pulled bodies from collapsed homes, businesses and even a hospital - all in ruins.

In Rome, Pope Francis urged prayers for Ecuador quake victims. Vice President Jorge Glas said there were deaths in the cities of Manta, Portoviejo and Guayaquil - all several hundred miles from the center of the quake struck shortly after nightfall Saturday.

Glas called it the "worst seismic movement we have faced in decades."

According to Glas, 14,000 security forces, 241 medical staff and two mobile hospitals were being rushed to the most devastated areas, with reinforcements arriving from Colombia and Mexico.

"We know that there are citizens trapped under rubble that need to be rescued," he said in a special TV and radio broadcast.

In Portoviejo, the temblor reduced houses to rubble, brought down a local market in a nearby community and left streetlights and debris scattered helter-skelter.

"It was horrible, this is the first time I feel an earthquake like this," resident Macontos Bibi, 57, told AFP, still in shock a day later. "I thought my house was going to collapse."

In Pedernales, a town of 40,000 near the quake's epicenter, dozens of scared residents slept in the streets while men equipped with little more than car headlights tried to rescue survivors who could be heard trapped under rubble.

"We're trying to do the most we can, but there's almost nothing we can do," Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, said.

Alcivar pleaded for authorities to send earth-moving machines and emergency rescue workers to help find people amid the rubble. He said looting had broken out amid the chaos but authorities were too busy trying to save lives to re-establish order.

"This wasn't just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town," he said.

Correa declared a national emergency and urged Ecuadoreans to stay strong while authorities handle the disaster.

"Everything can be rebuilt, but what can't be rebuilt are human lives, and that's the most painful," he said in a telephone call to state TV before departing Rome straight for Manta.

More than 3,000 packages of food and nearly 8,000 sleeping kits were being delivered. Electricity in Manabi province, the hardest hit, remained mostly down as authorities focused on finding survivors.

"Compatriots: unity, strength and prayer," Glas told a throng of residents gathered in the streets of Manta as he instructed them on how to look for survivors. "We need to be quiet so we can hear. We can't use heavy machinery because it can be very tragic for those who are injured."

Homes were reduced to rubble along the quake's path, while in Guayaquil a shopping center's roof fell down and a collapsed highway overpass crushed a car. In Manta, the airport closed after the control tower collapsed, injuring an air traffic control worker and a security guard.

Alberto Reynas, 58, was fishing off the coast of Pedernales when giant waves violently rocked his boat.

"It felt the same on sea as it did on land," he said.

But he was shaken again when he returned to land to find the facade of his two-story home had fallen off into the streets. He has been unable to communicate with members of his family and spent the night sleeping outdoors with neighbors, keeping a close watch against thieves.

"It's pure sadness. Everything is destroyed," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his "heartfelt condolences" to the quake victims and said Washington was ready to assist and support Ecuador.

Luis Quito said he spent the entire night delivering water to guests trapped under the rubble of a small, four-story Hotel Chimborazo owned by his father-in-law, who was missing and he believed dead.

"We hear screaming all through night," said Quito, wailing as he expressed outrage over the slow response of authorities. "There are humans trapped below the terrace. Babies. We need rescuers. But nobody has arrived so far."

In the capital Quito, terrified people fled into the streets as the quake shook their buildings. It knocked out electricity in several neighborhoods and a few homes collapsed but after a few hours power was being restored.

Among those killed was the driver of a car crushed by an overpass that buckled in Guayaquil, the country's most populous city. The city's international airport was also briefly closed. Hydroelectric dams and oil pipelines in the OPEC-member nation were shut down as a precautionary measure but so there were no reports of damage to them.

Towns near the epicenter were evacuated as a precautionary measure in case of hazardous tsunami waves but several hours later authorities said was safe for coastal residents to return to their homes.

Ecuador's ally Venezuela pledged humanitarian aid while neighbor Colombia, where the quake was also felt, said it stands ready to help in any way possible. The government is drawing on $600 million in emergency funding from multilateral banks to rebuild, Correa said.

Federica Mogherini, chief diplomat for the European Union, announced that it would help the South American country.

The U.S. Geological Survey originally put the quake at a magnitude of 7.4 then raised it to 7.8. It had a depth of 19 kilometers (12 miles).

Meanwhile, 4,000 miles across the Pacific, and on the other side of the "Ring of Fire in Japan, twin earthquakes killed at least 40 people and 1,100 were injured in the quakes that hit the region near Kumamoto city late Thursday and early Sunday.

Collapsed roads and bridges slowed efforts to reach victims desperate for food, water, medicine. The U.S. military is now assisting Japanese forces, by airlifting in supplies.

Operation Blessing is helping in both countries. In Japan, the disaster relief organization is providing generators, water, and food. They are working closely with Kumamoto Harvest Church and Pastor Koji Nakamura, whose church is in the city center close to the epicenter.

In Ecuador, Operation Blessing is setting up kitchens to serve meals to victims.

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