In Ecuador, teams search for survivorsMANTA, Ecuador — Rescuers are in a race against time to find survivors from a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake as the death toll from Ecuador's strongest earthquake in decades has risen above 400.On Monday, teams from Ecuador and neighboring countries fanned out across the country's Pacific coastline to look for the dozens of people still missing.In the port city of Manta, a group of about 50 rescuers working with sniffer dogs, hydraulic jacks and a drill managed to free eight people trapped for more than 32 hours in the rubble of a shopping center that was flattened by Saturday night's quake.Foreign Minister Guillaume Long tweeted that 654 search experts from other nations were on the ground late Monday and that more were expected to arrive Tuesday — bringing to 13 the nationalities involved in the rescue.Spain's Red Cross said as many as 5,000 people might need temporary housing because of destroyed homes and 100,000 need some sort of aid.The U.S. has offered assistance but so far President Rafael Correa, a strong critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, has yet to respond publicly.

Quakes cut off towns in JapanMINAMIASO, Japan — In this mountainous Japanese town known for its hot springs, prized beef and Jersey milk cows, more than 2,000 people have taken refuge from earthquakes at school gymnasiums and community centers, surviving on rock-hard biscuits, cold rice balls and bread.There is no running water to bathe or flush toilets. Many elderly evacuees rest on futon mattresses they brought from home. The bedding covers the floor, and there is no privacy.“Now I realize I haven't taken a bath since we came here,” said Yachiyo Fuchigami, a 64-year-old woman in a hilltop gymnasium in the town of Minamiaso on the southern island of Kyushu.She is among some 100,000 people who left their homes after two shuddering earthquakes on successive nights last week — late Thursday and early Saturday — knocked over hundreds of buildings and killed at least 45 people.Even many whose houses are still standing are afraid to sleep inside because of aftershocks. Many are sleeping in buildings converted into temporary shelters or in their cars.