Kiwi father separated from wife and son during Ecuador quake

  • 18/04/2016
Josh Power and his wife, Mayra Salazer (Facebook)
Josh Power and his wife, Mayra Salazer (Facebook)

A young Kiwi father New Zealand struggled to contact his wife and baby in Ecuador after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at the weekend.

At least 235 people have been confirmed dead and more than 1500 injured after Ecuador's strongest-ever earthquake struck on Saturday evening, on the west coast near Muisne.

Josh Power, his wife Mayra Salazar Roman and their 10-month-old son Franky have a house 30km northeast of Guayaquil.

Kiwi father separated from wife and son during Ecuador quake

Franky (Facebook)

After a frightening night of not knowing if his family were safe because the electricity was down, Mr Power finally heard from his wife at 3am through Facebook.

"She's okay and well, a little shaken but fine," he told Newshub.

"Electricity was no good, it was very dark," says Ms Salazar, an electrical engineer. "I was only thinking about what happened because we didn't have communication. I try to call to my husband but I couldn't. I try to call to my family but I couldn't."

She says Franky was sleeping when the quake hit, and she grabbed him and went for the table.

"I don't know what else to do. I was bad in that moment. Now things are more mobile. We all need to be patient."

She says their house is safe, and she doesn't need to move.

"We are safe here. We don't leave the house."

Mr Power is hoping to fly his wife and son to New Zealand to meet his family in November and celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Newshub.