Evangelicals in Ecuador: “Pray for protection and peace in this difficult moment”
Authorities confirm more than 350 dead and great devastation in the north of the country. The World Evangelical Alliance expresses “confraternal solidarity in the love of Jesus Christ in this time of pain.”
QUITO · 18 APRIL 2016 · 11:29 CET
Ecuadorian authorities confirmed on Monday the death of at least 350 people, while more than 1,500 have been injured after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the northern part of the country on Saturday evening.
The quake is the most powerful in the last three decades and especially affected a touristic region, as well as cities like Muisne, Pedernales and Manta. The state of exception has been declared in 6 provinces, and the rest of the Ecuador is also under alert.
More than 200 aftershocks have followed since Saturday. Some 10,000 troops and 3,500 police are being deployed in the affected areas, as rescue operations continue.
President Rafael Correa was visiting Pope Francis in Rome when the first news about the disaster came in. He flew back to the country.
Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, close to the epicentre, told the BBC the “entire town” had been flattened. “We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do”, he added, warning that looting had broken out.
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD: “PRAYING FOR EVERYONE AFFECTED”
The network of Christian policemen “Cristopol” also joined the prayers for “protection and peace for all the families” and asking “Jesus Christ extends his protecting hand.”
REACTIONS FROM REST OF THE WORLD
Christians in the rest of Latin America are also praying and offering their support to the Ecuadorians. “We express our feelings of solidarity with the people of our sister the Ecuadorian Republic”, the Latin Evangelical Alliance (Alianza Evangélica Latina) said in a statement.
“We ask all evangelicals in Latin America to be united in prayer and ready to offer any collaboration that is requested from us”, the text added.
The World Evangelical Alliance expressed its “confraternal solidarity in the love of Jesus Christ in this time of pain, suffering and preoccupation for the Ecuadorian brothers affected by the recent quake in the country (…) When a part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers.”
Published in: Evangelical Focus - world - Evangelicals in Ecuador: “Pray for protection and peace in this difficult moment”