Ecuador: Rescuers losing hope of finding more suvivors

Reuters.com reported Rescuers in Ecuador were losing hope of finding more survivors on Tuesday from an earthquake which killed more than 400 people and dealt a shattering blow to the South American OPEC nation’s already fragile economy.

Praying for miracles, distraught family members beseeched rescue teams to find missing loved ones as they used dogs, bare hands and excavators to hunt through debris of flattened homes, hotels and stores in the hardest-hit Pacific coastal region.

The death toll stood at 443 but was expected to rise.

The 7.8 magnitude quake, which struck late Saturday, also left 231 people missing and injured more than 4,000, according to latest government tallies on Tuesday morning. Read Article

OPINION NOTE: LATINAMERICACURRENTEVENTS.COM predicts based on current conditions that the final count will be between 1000 and 5000 deaths.

>SAFETY, SECURITY, HEALTH IN ECUADOR – READ THIS BOOK