Besides the fifteen deaths More than 380 people have been reported so far as injured, according to the authorities in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, has been the one who has given the death toll. He has reported that 12 people died in the province of El Oro, bordering Peru and two in Azuay, another province in the south of the country.
El Oro has been the most affected province. Here several people were trapped under the rubble.
In the Machala community, a two-story house collapsed before people could evacuate, a pier gave way, and the walls of a building cracked, trapping an unknown number of people.
Authorities ordered the closure of three tunnels in Guayaquil, which is home to a metropolitan area of more than 3 million inhabitants. Citizens quickly took to the streets as a security measure.
The tremor was felt in 13 of the country’s 24 provinces. In addition, four more earthquakes of magnitudes 4.8 were registered, as well as 3.7 and two of 3.5, with an epicenter in the northeastern end of Puná Island in the Gulf of Guayaquil (southwest).
“I have traveled all the territories affected by the 6.5 magnitude earthquake. We will be with the entire Cabinet attending to this emergency immediately. #CruzadaPorElEcuador” wrote the Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, on his Twitter account.
The military helped by air evacuation of the wounded from the city of Machala to health centers in Guayaquil.
Official reports in Ecuador show some 90 homes affected, 44 destroyed, fifty educational units affected, as well as 17 public assets, 20 private assets, 31 health centers and one private asset destroyed, as well as a bridge.
In Peru, the authorities indicated that a 4-year-old girl died in the north of the country, in the Tumbes region. The earthquake has left dozens of victims, homes destroyed or disabled. Health centers and other infrastructure have also been affected. The shops in the affected area remain closed for fear of aftershocks.
The National Seismological Center of Peru ruled out the generation of a tsunami as a consequence of the earthquake.
Peru and Ecuador are in the area known as Pacific Ring of Firewhere approximately 85% of the world’s seismic activity occurs.
In addition, the Belt, which is shaped like a horseshoe, includes other countries such as Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and Canada.
On April 16, Ecuador will commemorate the seventh anniversary of one of the earthquakes most destructive in its recent history, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that left more than 670 dead, thousands homeless and millions in material losses.
Source: Euronews Español
