A rain-weakened hillside collapsed in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, sweeping over homes and a sports field and killing at least 24 people, city officials have said.
Neighbours joined rescue workers in hunting through the ruins for survivors of the disaster that hit after nearly 24 hours of rainfall.
The storm was pounding outside when Imelda Pacheco said she felt her house move as if an earthquake had struck. Suddenly water and rocks began to pour in through doors and windows and she fled before the building was destroyed.
“I barely had time to grab the hand of my four-year-old son and I ran to the stairs, to the terrace. Suddenly the walls in front and to the side disappeared,” she told the Associated Press.
Quito mayor Santiago Guarderas said the intense rains had saturated the soils, setting off the landslide.
“I’ve lost everything. I don’t have anything. Everything is over,” said 65-year-old Laura Quiñónez, who stood beside an ambulance as her neighbours tried to recover appliances from their destroyed homes.
Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of further landslides.
Here is a short video
https://youtu.be/VdA_P1PuwSY
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