Saturday night, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake—the strongest in decades—rocked Ecuador. At this point, the Ecuadorian government reports at least 272 people were killed, and another 2,527 injured, mostly in the northwestern coastal areas. President Rafael Correa declared a national emergency and mobilized about 4,600 members of the National Police and 10,400 members of the armed forces. The front page of The New York Times this morning declared that “Ecuador ‘Looks Like a War Zone.’” The paper quoted Viviana Baquezea, a florist from Portoviejo, the provincial capital of Manabí.
It looks like a war zone … It’s incredible what was happened to us—that our city is destroyed and we’re experiencing such anguish and pain … We don’t have food or water, there are no supermarkets, and we’re surviving with what we had in our homes.
Several Christian groups have already begun relief efforts in the country, including World Vision, Compassion and Samaritan’s Purse. You can donate to the efforts like these here, here and here.
Staff from World Vision are posting photos from Ecuador you can check out here.
