厄瓜多爾地震遇難人數升至246人

Slideshow About 10,000 troops and 4,600 police were deployed to search for survivors following the powerful earthquake in Ecuador, with the officiAl death toll rising to 233 on Sunday.

厄瓜多爾發生強烈地震後，該國投入1萬軍人和4600名警察搜索倖存者，週日官方公佈的死亡人數已升至246人。

A 7.8 magnitude quake struck on Saturday evening off Ecuador’s coast about 200km from the capital Quito, causing widespread damage to local communities. The tremor was the strongest to hit the Andean country since 1979, and came only a day after a 7.3 magnitude quake struck Japan on the other side of the Pacific.

上週六夜晚，距離首都基多200公里的海上發生7.8級地震，對當地社區造成廣泛破壞。這是這個安第斯山區國家自1979年以來遭遇的震級最高的地震。僅一天前，位於太平洋另一端的日本發生了一場7.3級的地震。

Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president, declared a national emergency and cut short a visit to Rome, as he urged Ecuadoreans to stay strong while authorities handle the disaster. He said that support for the rescuers from neighbouring countries was on its way. “Immediate priority is to rescue those [trapped] among the rubble,” he said on Twitter.

厄瓜多爾總統拉斐爾•科雷亞(Rafael Correa)宣佈該國進入緊急狀態，他中斷了對羅馬的訪問，敦促厄瓜多爾人在當局處理這場災難的時候保持堅強。他表示，鄰國對救援人員的支援正在路上。“當務之急是救援那些困在廢墟中的人們，”他在Twitter上表示。

Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, an area of 55,000 people close to the quake’s epicentre, pleaded for authorities to send earthmoving machines and emergency rescue workers as roads were cracked and several of buildings in the town were flattened, trapping residents among the rubble.

靠近震中、人口5.5萬人的佩德納萊斯鎮的鎮長加布裏埃爾•阿爾西瓦(Gabriel Alcivar)請求當局向該市派遣推土機和緊急救援人員，該市的道路裂開，鎮內的幾棟建築被夷爲平地，將一些居民困在了瓦礫之中。

“This wasn’t just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town,” he told local television.

他告訴當地電視臺：“倒塌的不僅僅是一棟房子，是整個鎮。”