Reporting from Quito, Ecuador — Rescue workers in Ecuador continued to sort through rubble in search of 155 people still missing after last weekend’s massive earthquake.
Five people were pulled out alive late Wednesday, including an Argentine tourist and his 3-year-old son. But as days pass, the chances of finding more survivors diminish.
The death toll as of Thursday afternoon stood at 577, up from 553 a day earlier. Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said that figure included 20 foreigners.
The rescue effort was focused on the coastal province of Manabi, which was hit hardest by the magnitude 7.8 quake Saturday.
The government has begun planning for multibillion-dollar reconstruction. President Rafael Correa proposed a series of emergency measures to pay for it. They include a increase in the sales tax, a surtax on corporate profits and a special tax on wealthy people.
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Firemen carry a body from a collapsed building in Pedernales, Ecuador. Rescuers pulled survivors from rubble Sunday after the strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast.
(Dolores Ochoa / Associated Press)
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A man evacuates his belongings in Manta, Ecuador, after a powerful 7.8-magnitude quake hit the country.
(Luis Acosta / AFP/Getty Images)
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General scene of the destruction in Manta, Ecuador, after a powerful 7.8-magnitude quake hit the country.
(Luis Acosta / AFP/Getty Images)
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A vehicle rolls on a cracked route after a 7.8-magnitude quake in Chone, Ecuador.
(Juan Cevallos / AFP/Getty Images)
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Residents sleep under a makeshift tent outside the emergency center in the town of Portoviejo, Ecuador. Parts of Ecuador have been devastated by the country’s strongest earthquake in decades.
(Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press)
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Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa kisses a group of children after meeting with local authorities in the emergency center in Portoviejo, Ecuador.
(Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press)
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Veronica Paladines removes rubble in search for her husband in the Tarqui neighborhood in Manta, Ecuador, after a powerful quake hit the country.
(Luis Acosta / AFP/Getty Images)
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Heavy damage in the Ecuadorian town of Pedernales, after a 7.8-magnitude quake hit the country.
(Rodrigo Buendia / AFP/Getty Images)
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People carry an empty coffin on a pickup truck as they drive to collect the body of an earthquake victim in Pedernales, Ecuador.
(Dolores Ochoa / Associated Press)
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Lighted candles burn in front of a collapsed building as a tribute to victims of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in La Chorrera, Ecuador.
(Dolores Ochoa / Associated Press)
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Rescue workers search the rubble after a 7.8-magnitude quake in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(Luis Acosta / AFP/Getty Images)
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Scene from Manta, Ecuador, after a powerful quake hit the country.
(Luis Acosta / AFP/Getty Images)
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A man searches a collapsed building on Sunday in the Pedernales, Ecuador, the day after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit.
(Jose Jacome / EPA)
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A woman cries in the quake-ravaged town of Pedernales, Ecuador.
(Dolores Ochoa / AP)
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Residents react as they gather in the street in the Pacific coastal town of Pedernales after the Ecuador earthquake.
(Dolores Ochoa / Associated Press)
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Collapsed buildings in the town of Pedernales, Ecuador, after the earthquake.
(Jose Jacome / EPA)
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Residents sleep in the street in the coastal town of Pedernales, Ecuador, after the earthquake.
(Dolores Ochoa / Associated Press)
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Residents wary of returning to their homes prepare food in a street in Pedernales, Ecuador.
(Jose Jacome / EPA)
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A man checks out a fallen building in Guayaquil after the Ecuador earthquake.
(Marcos Pin Mendez / AFP/Getty Images)
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Rescuers work to pull survivors from a collapsed building in the city of Manta, Ecuador.
(Ariel Ochoa / AFP/Getty Images)
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Rescue crews check a car after a bridge collapsed in Guayaquil, Ecuador, when a 7.8 earthquake hit.
(Freddy Constante / EPA)
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People rest in a Guayaquil park after the Ecuador earthquake.
(Marcos Pin Mendez / AFP/Getty Images)
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People take pictures of a collapsed bridge in Guayaquil, Ecuador, after the earthquake hit.
(Jose Sanchez Lindao / AFP/Getty Images)
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Rescue workers stand before a destroyed car after the collapse of a bridge in an earthquake in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(MARCOS PIN MENDEZ / AFP/Getty Images)
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Residents walk on a street amid destroyed buildings following an earthquake in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(ARIEL OCHOA / AFP/Getty Images)
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Patients and relatives wait outside the Colombia Clinic in Cali, Colombia, after being preventively evacuated following a powerful earthquake that hit Ecuador.
(LUIS ROBAYO / AFP/Getty Images)
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An image taken from Venezuelan channel Telesur shows Ecuador’s Vice President Jorge Glas updating quake information at a news conference in Quito.
(AFP/Getty Images)
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Patients and relatives wait outside the Colombia Clinic in Cali, Colombia, after being preventively evacuated following a powerful earthquake that hit Ecuador.
(LUIS ROBAYO / AFP/Getty Images)
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In addition, anybody earning more than $1,000 a month will be required to contribute one day’s salary to a reconstruction fund.
Correa, who has estimated the cost of reconstruction at $3 billion, said the nation would also raise money by selling government-owned assets, though he didn’t specify which ones.
He said he would send the emergency tax bill to the National Assembly for approval in coming days. The economy minister said it aims to raise $1 billion.
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The government said a total of 1,125 buildings were destroyed, leaving about 25,000 people in emergency shelters.
International aid continued to arrive. A Colombian air force cargo plane landed in Manta on Wednesday with 15 tons of food, electric generators, tents and a specialized rescue team, a day after a Colombian navy ship unloaded 55,000 gallons of water and half a ton of clothing and medicines at the Pacific port of Esmeraldas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government announced it was sending a shipload of 30 tons of relief supplies including food, tents and electric generators capable of helping 2,000 people.
Bolivia has sent 50 rescue workers and a Hercules military aircraft filled with 10 tons of medicine, water and food for those left homeless.
Viteri is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Chris Kraul in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
