AMN/ WEB DESK
The official death toll from a landslip in Ecuador reached eleven on Tuesday evening, March 28, while families and rescue organisations searched for dozens of people still missing after massive volumes of earth-buried homes, a stadium, and other structures in the small city of Alausi. According to Ecuador’s disaster agency, about sixty people were still missing and around thirty-two survivors had been rescued. The authorities said the landslide affected about 163 buildings and 500 people.
President Guillermo Lasso offered to extend the rescue operation to find the missing. The government has ordered the evacuation of 600 homes out of concern for the possibility of further landslides, and three shelters have been put up to provide care for those in need. Earlier, Ecuador’s disaster agency had warned of potential landslide danger for a 247-hectare (610-acre) area in Alausi in February, which included part of the zone where Sunday’s landslide hit. Heavy rains destroyed roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. The President, last week, declared an emergency in 14 provinces because of the weather and an earthquake on March 18th.