Local Ecuadorian Business Owner Sending Supplies To Earthquake Victims

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Relief supplies are rolling in by the carload at a Doral warehouse, where the Ecuadorian-born business owner is doing what he can to help the country ripped apart by a devastating earthquake.

The company, Provex Inc. at 7061 NW 87 Avenue is picking up the tab to ship pallets of donations to victims.

"I get the goosebumps because in my age, I haven't this much destruction. It's very sad. My family is okay. I have some friends their homes are gone," said Francisco Plaza, the operations manager at Provex.

Pepe Alfaro is doing his part to help his home country.

"My country is destroyed. Everything," Alfaro told CBS 4's Lauren Pastrana. "We need everybody's contribution."

The goal is to fill an entire shipping container with supplies by the end of the day Monday.

"At this moment, the most important thing is medicine and food," said Manuel Echeverria, the Trade Commissioner of Ecuador in Miami. "But the next day, we're going to need mattresses so people can sleep. Clothes. Because they have lost everythin."

Near the epicenter in the Pacific town of Pedernales, rescuers dug through crumbled concrete only to find lifeless bodies.

The quake also claimed lives about 85 miles south in the coastal city of Manta.

Onlookers cheered as this teenager was pulled from a crushed hotel in the city.

About 150 miles from the Epicenter, first responders in Guayaquil searched for survivors after a highway overpass buckled, flattening cars.

The 7.8-magnitude quake killed hundreds of people and left thousands homeless, including some of Pepe Alfaro's loved ones.

"Everybody from my family is okay, but my friends died," Alfaro said. "Their house is destroyed. It's terrible."

You can take your donations to  NW 87 Avenue from 9am to 5pm Monday - Friday.