Earthquake Recovery in Ecuador

Our Response Team is on the ground in the Bahia de Caraquez area of Manabi Province with an additional wave of skilled personnel on the way to focus on specific needs. The greatest damages and largest number of affected populations are reported in the province of Manabí, with 596 deaths and 21,130 in shelters. In addition to the unprecedented damage to Ecuador’s infrastructure, buildings have been demolished in the effort toward search and rescue. Our assessment team has reported the need for assistance in small communities surrounding Salinas, Rio de Canoa, and Cascano, with a number of priority families identified. In Salinas, our volunteer teams are immediately performing demolition work on a fallen home, construction, and other repair work to destroyed homes. The work queue is increasing here. There is also a housing need in Cascano, a rural area where solutions, such as using bamboo to build shelters, are being determined. Meanwhile, in Rio de Canoa, the community and All Hands Volunteers is working together to further review and modify emergency latrine designs.

Important highlights:

• We’ve registered in-country and have established a base at the town of San Vincente, from which we will deploy teams to underserved communities in the surrounding area.

• The team has currently assessed that the immediate need is provision of emergency shelter, portable water, medical assistance, and latrines, as over 25,000 people have lost their homes and many are in shock.

• As new partnerships emerge, All Hands has been aiding local relief efforts by delivering water to the displaced population in Rio Canoa.

• We are continuing to provide immediate help to the displaced population which means addressing the issue of open defecation which could potentially lead to the spread of disease. In order to address the concern of open defecation, we will provide emergency latrines and privacy booths for showering to the population who have been displaced by the earthquake.

• Our team has completed a pilot latrine construction project, and will continue to work with the local community and health department to construct more latrine units in San Vicente.

• Engineers from Engineers without Borders (EWB) are working with local engineers from both the local municipality and the military. Through a mixture of instructor led and hands on training, the EWB team will build the capacity of the local resources, better equipping them to assess damaged buildings.