MANTA, Ecuador (AP) – The Latest on the deadly earthquake in Ecuador (all times local):
3:30 a.m.
Ecuador’s foreign minister says more international rescuers are heading to the country’s disaster zone of flattened buildings to help in the race against time to find survivors from a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake
Guillaume Long tweeted that 654 search experts from other nations were on the ground late Monday and that more were expected to arrive Tuesday – bringing to 13 the nationalities involved in the rescue.
The government reported Monday that the official death count had increased to 413 and was expected to rise further in the days ahead. Among the dead were an American and two Canadians.
Complicating rescue efforts is the lack of electricity in many areas, meaning noisy power generators must be used, making it harder to hear people who might be trapped beneath rubble.
More than 2,000 people were injured.
Spain’s Red Cross said as many as 5,000 people might need temporary housing because of destroyed homes and 100,000 need some sort of aid.