厄瓜多尔发生强烈地震后，该国投入1万军人和4600名警察搜索幸存者，周日官方公布的死亡人数已升至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.

上周六夜晚，距离首都基多200公里的海上发生7.8级地震，对当地社区造成广泛破坏。这是这个安第斯山区国家自1979年以来遭遇的震级最高的地震。仅一天前，位于太平洋另一端的日本发生了一场7.3级的地震。

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.

厄瓜多尔总统拉斐尔?科雷亚(Rafael Correa)宣布该国进入紧急状态，他中断了对罗马的访问，敦促厄瓜多尔人在当局处理这场灾难的时候保持坚强。他表示，邻国对救援人员的支援正在路上。“当务之急是救援那些困在废墟中的人们，”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5.5万人的佩德纳莱斯镇的镇长加布里埃尔?阿尔西瓦(Gabriel Alcivar)请求当局向该市派遣推土机和紧急救援人员，该市的道路裂开，镇内的几栋建筑被夷为平地，将一些居民困在了瓦砾之中。

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

他告诉当地电视台：“倒塌的不仅仅是一栋房子，是整个镇。”