’Quake kills 18, cuts oil supply

Press, 9 March 1987, Page 10

’Quake kills 18, cuts oil supply

NZPA-Reuter Quito The death toll has risen to 18 in an earthquake that paralysed oil production in Ecuador, forcing it to impose fuel restrictions. Rescue workers digging through mud on Saturday found the bodies of 10 passengers trapped in a bus under a landslide caused by the ’quake on Friday, said the Health Minister, Jorge Bracho. He told Reuters that the bodies were found in the village of Reventador, near the ’quake epicentre at the volcano of the same name 90km east of Quito. The ’quake, registering six on the 12-point international Mercalli scale, killed eight other people in four towns in northeastern Ecuador, said Mr Bracho. Most died when their

adobe huts collapsed. The earthquake halted oil production and exports because of damage to about 40km of the main pipeline linking Amazon basin oil fields to the Pacific coast, said the Energy and Mines Minister, Javier Espinosa.

Oil is Ecuador’s main source of wealth, accounting for up to two-thirds of exports and 60 per cent of government revenue. Mr Espinosa said on television that the country would cut domestic fuel sales by 30 per cent to conserve energy. It would also suspend foreign crude sales until the pipeline damage was repaired. The Deputy Energy Minister, Fernando Santos Alvite, told a television interviewer that it could take months to repair the pipeline.