Ecuador Internacional

Last thing Ecuador needed was quake, after oil bust

Yahoo Finance - Jordi Miro 20/04/2016

Photo: Yahoo Finance

Photo: Yahoo Finance

Quito (AFP) - Oil-producing Ecuador has already taken a big hit from the drop in global crude prices, so the last thing it needed was the devastating earthquake that struck last weekend.

The 7.8-magnitude tremor, which killed at least 480 people, also reduced buildings along the country's Pacific coast to rubble, knocked down bridges and power pylons, and ripped up roads.

It is still too early for the government to give a firm estimate of reconstruction costs, but it looks like they will be enormous given the heavy damage, especially in tourism-dependent coastal towns like Pedernales, Manta and Portoviejo.

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