Ecuador to use bond market to help rebuild after quake

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep.

Ecuador is contemplating placing bonds on the international market to help raise funds to deal with reconstruction efforts brought on by the devastating earthquake, President Rafael Correa said Wednesday.

"We have to take temporary measures given the magnitude and the unexpectedness of this spending,” he said. “The country has never been so well prepared, but a disaster of this magnitude will affect even the richest country in the world,” he added.

The exact amount of the financial loss to Ecuador from the magnitude-7.8 quake that hit Saturday evening on the northern Pacific coast is not yet known but authorities are working to produce an initial figure in the coming days.

“Losses could reach several billion dollars. I said that it will be around $3,000 million but it is my perception. The first approach, we will have this weekend but the final figure in six weeks," Correa said during in a press conference.

He said his country has already received $160 million of a $600 million line of credit opened by multilateral lenders.

"We can start rebuilding shelters and roads. But this is not a matter of three days, this will take years. We are in the worst emergency situation of the last 70 years", he said.

Correa emphasized that the first stage is to save lives “and we have accomplished that because we had 525 dead but rescued 54 lives, which is good average.”

The next phase is to house victims and “that will take years,” he said.

The most affected areas are Canoa and Jama, each were 85 percent destroyed, followed by Pedernales with 70 percent destruction.

"We need to tear down constructions at risk and build new ones”, Correa said.

Losses in Jama are estimated at $60 million and in Pedernales it is at $240 million.

Correa also said he will give priority to the reconstruction of public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and hospitals.