Earthquake shakes Ecuador and northern Peru; leaves at least 12 dead

At least 12 people died after a strong earthquake that shook an island region of Ecuador and the north of Peruwhich caused alarm among the inhabitants and generated various infrastructure damages.

Users on social networks posted videos of some damage to buildings in the area after the magnitude 6.8 earthquake -according to the US Geological Survey (USGS)- registered at noon and had an epicenter 29 kilometers from Balao, Guayas province.

The General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency of Ecuador said that 11 people died in the province of El Oro and another in the province of Azuay. He also said that there were injured people who were being treated in hospitals.

“The institutions were activated immediately and contingency teams are mobilizing to offer all their support to those who have been affected”President Guillermo Lasso tweeted.

Emergency agencies were deployed in different affected areas to rescue people and assess the damage.

Additionally, the government detailed that homes were destroyed in the provinces of El Oro and Azuay. Some educational units and health centers were also affected.

Some localities suffered some alterations in basic services, while there were landslides on some roads.

“We ran out into the streets, this situation was very ugly. We were very scared, we are close to the epicenter, it was a lot of scare “Ernesto Alvarado, a resident of the Ecuadorian island of Puná, told Reuters.

The Secretariat also said that three facilities of the state-owned Petroecuador (Terminal Pascuales, LNG plant and Terminal 3 Bocas) preventively suspended their activities and were evacuated. “The hydrocarbons sector does not register any news, for the moment”he pointed.

The authorities said that the movement did not have the necessary conditions to generate a tsunami on the continental and insular coasts.

For their part, the Peruvian authorities said that the strong movement was felt in the north of the country, bordering with Ecuadorand after monitoring vulnerable areas, they did not immediately record structural damage or damage to the population.

Source: Reuters