Ecuador counts over 400 quake deaths, damage in the billions
Touring a city ravaged by the earthquake that killed at least 413 people, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on April 18 contemplated a rebuilding costing billions of dollars and a potentially "huge" impact on the fragile OPEC economy.
But the traumatized survivors Correa met on his rounds two days after the magnitude 7.8 quake had much more immediate concerns: many asked him for water.
With the death toll likely to rise further and swaths of flattened homes, roads and bridges coming to light, a visibly moved and grim-faced Correa warned that Ecuador's biggest disaster in decades would put a big toll on the poor Andean country.
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Growth in the country of 16 million, which is largely dependent on oil and exports, was already forecast near zero this year due to plunging oil income.
The energy industry appeared to have dodged damage although the main refinery of Esmeraldas was closed as a precaution. However, exports of bananas, flowers, cocoa beans and fish could be slowed by ruined roads and port delays.
Michael Henderson, at risk consultancy Maplecroft, said Ecuador was less well equipped to recover than Chile, where a 2010 earthquake caused an estimated US$30 billion in damage.
