The 7.8-magnitude quake struck Ecuador`s Pacific coast on Saturday, and the search for survivors continues.

The cost of rebuilding is likely to be in the billions of dollars, President Rafael Correa said during a visit to the worst-affected region.

He said it was the biggest tragedy to hit Ecuador in the past seven decades. Some 2,500 people were injured.

Late on Monday, six people, including two girls - one three years old and the other nine months old - were rescued from the ruins of a hotel near the coastal town of Manta.

Elsewhere, funerals for some of those killed were held in Portoviejo and Pedernales, two towns that were the worst hit.

"I fear that figure will go up because we keep on removing rubble," a shaken Mr Correa said in a televised address. "There are signs of life in the rubble, and that is being prioritised."

The quake comes at a time when the oil-producing country is already reeling from the slump in global crude prices.

Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, said some of the group`s rarely used emergency funds would be unlocked and given to Ecuador to help it rebuild.

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18/04/2016 23:18

Ecuador`s earthquake death toll rose to 350 on Monday as rescuers hunted for survivors, victims clamored for aid and looting broke out in the Andean nation`s shattered coastal region.

More than 2,000 were also injured in Saturday`s 7.8 magnitude quake, which ripped apart buildings and roads and knocked out power along the Pacific coastline.

President Rafael Correa, giving the new tally of fatalities from the town of Portoviejo inside the disaster zone, told Reuters the number of dead had increased to 350 but said he feared the number would rise further.

"Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars," said Correa, as survivors begged him for water.

The normally upbeat socialist president looked deeply moved as he chatted with victims during a tour of the destroyed town in the South American OPEC nation, which was already suffering from the global slump in crude oil prices.

It has been decades since such a strong quake struck Ecuador. In 1979, at least 600 people died and 20,000 were injured in a magnitude 7.7 quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In other parts of Portoviejo, people stole clothes and shoes from wrecked buildings as police tried to control crowds. Armed men robbed two trucks carrying water, clothes and other basics to quake-hit beach locality Pedernales from the city of Guayaquil, authorities said, as fears of looting spread.

To the north in Pedernales, survivors curled up on mattresses or plastic chairs next to flattened homes. Overnight, soldiers and police had patrolled the hot, dark streets while pockets of rescue workers kept searching for survivors.

Earlier, firefighters entered a partially destroyed house to look for three children and a man apparently trapped inside, as a crowd gathered in the darkness to watch.
"My little cousins are inside. Before, there were noises, screams. We must find them," pleaded Isaac, 18, as the firemen combed the debris.

Tents sprang up in the intact stadium to store bodies, treat the injured, and distribute water, food and blankets. Survivors with bruised limbs and bandaged cuts wandered around while the more seriously injured were evacuated to hospitals.

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