Chinese enterprises come to rescue, relief after Ecuador earthquake

Employees of the ECU 911 Integrated Security Service (SIS) work after the earthquake in Manabi province, Ecuador, on April 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

QUITO - "Amigos from China, you are good!" Onlookers cheered up aloud when staff from China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd (CAMC) pulled a little girl out of the rubble on Street Rocafuerte in Ecuador's city of Portoviejo, 20 hours after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit the country's costal region on Saturday.

By late Wednesday, the quake has claimed 553 lives, injured more than 4,000, leveled over 800 buildings and ripped off roads some 1,000 kilometers long.

Rescuing life against time

The CAMC rescuers arrived in the affected city some 30 kilometers from the Pacific coast in 10 hours after the disaster occurred, bringing with them 17 vehicles for excavation and loading purposes.

Right on Sunday afternoon, they saved a 27-year-old woman out of the basement of a four-floor house on Street Alhajuela and later another one on Street Malawi.0 All the three victims saved by the Chinese company are now out of danger after timely treatment.

Besides Portoviejo, the CAMC company also dispatched to the affected cities of Guayaquil and Quito over a dozen of trucks loaded with water, candles, biscuits, canned food and other relief supplies.

CAMC is not the only Chinese company in Ecuador that has come to the rescue. After more than 20 hours of trekking, 24 employees from China International Water and Electric Corp arrived on Monday at Jama Town, 70 kilometers away from the epicenter of Pedernales.

With the help of heavy-duty equipment they brought along, the workers cleaned the main roads and resumed traffic, braving consistent downpour and occasional landslides. Finally they carved a lifeline through the piled-up debris so that medical and logistic rescuers could enter the scene.

In the early morning on Wednesday, the transportation network in the ravaged port city of Guayaquil in Guayas Province was partially resumed, thanks to the emergency response professionals from Huawei, a leading Chinese producer and developer of communication technology and equipment that has business in the South American nation.

Working on a tight schedule, the Huawei technicians rallied within 30 minutes after the quake hit and mixed with local partners to maintain telecommunication services and power supplies, as the demand tends to soar when disaster hits.