PORTOVIEJO, Ecuador (AP) – There are devastating losses along Ecuador’s Pacific Ocean coast, after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck over the weekend.

At least 272 people were killed, highways buckled and homes and buildings were flattened.

President Rafael Correa says Saturday night’s quake was the worst natural disaster to hit Ecuador since a 1949 earthquake in the Andean city of Ambato, which took more than 5,000 lives.