Tag: 7.8 magnitude

Ecuador quake toll at 272, ‘certain to rise’

by Santiago Piedra Silva with Florence Panoussian in Manta Portoviejo, Ecuador  (AFP) — The biggest earthquake in Ecuador in decades has killed 272 people — but that toll will ‘certainly’ rise even further, the president said on Sunday as overwhelmed rescuers struggled to pull survivors out of the destruction. The 7.8-magnitude quake struck the small, oil-producing South American nation late Saturday, shattering hotels and homes along its Pacific coast popular with tourists and reducing several […]