A 6.2 magnitude quake shook Ecuador's already devastated Pacific coast before dawn on Wednesday, terrifying residents and hindering rescuers searching for survivors of Saturday's even bigger quake which killed more than 500 people.
The latest big tremor, which followed several hundred aftershocks from Saturday's 7.8 quake, hit 25 km (15 miles) off the island of Muisne on the northwest coast at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.
That was near the epicenter of the weekend's major quake, which leveled a long swath of the coastline and dealt a major blow to the oil-producing nation's already fragile economy.
To help fund a long, multibillion-dollar reconstruction, Ecuador may issue bonds on the international market, President Rafael Correa said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, already shaken Ecuadoreans were woken up by two strong tremors of about 30 seconds each on Wednesday, sending residents running into the street.
"You can't imagine what a fright it was. 'Not again!,' I thought," said Maria Quinones in Pedernales, which bore the brunt of Saturday's disaster. On a highway outside town, children sat holding placards saying "food, please".
No tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of deaths or major new damage. Ecuador's Geophysical Institute reported 17 aftershocks.
Local media said rescue operations were temporarily suspended as hopes dwindled of finding anyone alive from Saturday's quake, which killed 525 people, according to a central government tally.
More than 100 people are still missing and more than 4,600 were injured in that disaster, which destroyed about 1,500 buildings, triggered mudslides and tore up roads. Some 23,500 are sleeping in shelters, their homes and livelihoods crushed.
"PLEASE, GIVE US THE CORPSES"
Correa, supervising work in the disaster zone, said the weekend quake had inflicted $2 billion to $3 billion of damage and could knock 2 to 3 percentage points off growth, meaning the economy could shrink this year. Lower oil revenue had already left the poor Andean nation of 16 million people facing near-zero growth and lower investment.
"It's hard to imagine the magnitude of the tragedy. Every time we visit a place, there are more problems," he said.
"We're looking at the possibility of issuing bonds on the international market, but other measures have been planned, a tax reform is being discussed," he added, but gave no details.
Ecuador has said current high yields would make it too expensive to issue debt. Yields on its bonds are close to 11 percentage points higher than comparable U.S. Treasury debt, according to JPMorgan data.
Leftist Correa's government in 2008 defaulted on bonds with a similar yield, calling bondholders "monsters" and the debt value unfair. Creditors are likely to be even more wary of Ecuador following the quake damage.
Communities isolated by the quake struggled without water, power or transport, although aid was trickling in. Along the coast, stadiums served as morgues and aid distribution centers.
Scores of foreign aid workers and experts arrived and about 14,000 security personnel kept order, with only sporadic looting reported.
Rescuers were losing hope of finding anyone alive even as relatives of the missing begged them to keep looking.
"There is still a small margin of time to find survivors," Correa said. "But I don't want to give excessive hope."
One woman, who arrived from the highland capital Quito to look for her daughter and niece who had been on a beach trip, urged police to take care with excavators as they searched a destroyed hotel in Pedernales.
"Please," she said, "at least give us the corpses intact."
