Quito, March 18 (EFE).– At least thirteen people died and another 126 were injured by the 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the Richter open scale, which occurred this Saturday in the province of Guayas, in the coastal area of Ecuador, according to a report from the Risk Management Secretariat.
According to the Government, most of the deaths were registered in the province of El Oro, on the border with Peru.
Fifty houses were affected and seven destroyed, according to a general report from the Risk Management Secretariat, which also mentioned that 17 educational units were affected, as were 31 health centers.
After the 6.5 earthquake that occurred at noon this Saturday, and which was felt in 13 of the 24 provinces of the country, three more of magnitudes 4.8 were registered, as well as 3.7 and 3.6, with an epicenter in the extreme northeast of Isla Puná in the Gulf of Guayaquil (southwest).
Among the effects on infrastructures, the collapse of facades, broken glass and cracks in walls, among others, are reported.
Likewise, the collapse of the old cabotage dock was recorded, damage to the YAT Club Machala, and the fall of telephone lines, and lack of electricity in several cantons of the province of El Oro.
The Oceanographic Institute of the Navy reported that the earthquake did not meet the necessary conditions to generate a tsunami on the continental and insular coast of the country.
According to the public company Petroecuador, the facilities of the Marítimo-Balao, Chorrillos, Monteverde, La Libertad, La Toma Loja Depository terminals did not register any news.
The Esmeraldas-Quito pipeline stopped momentarily as a precaution, but then it operated again without incident.
Likewise, the Pascuales Terminal and LNG Plant, and Terminal 3 Bocas suspended activities and were evacuated as a precaution. No news was reported in the initial balance.
The airports of Guayaquil and Cuenca operate without news and “the hydrocarbon sector has no news, for the moment,” he noted.
The Guayaquil city council, capital of the Guayas province, pointed out that there were two structural collapses, 44 architectural collapses and one minor injury after the earthquake.
He specified that it is a partial structural collapse and 29 architectural (non-structural) collapses in the urban area; while in the rural area it was registered: 1 structural collapse in Puná and 15 architectural collapses (11 in Puná and 4 in Tenguel) and one minor injury.
During the installation of the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE), the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, reported that his Government was activated with an “emergent nature” to provide the necessary attention to those affected by the earthquake.
The Integrated Security Service (ECU 911) indicated that they have registered 421 emergencies nationwide, of which a total of 365 were in the city of Machala, in the province of El Oro.
FIRE BELT
Ecuador is located in the Pacific Belt or Ring of Fire, which concentrates some of the most important subduction zones (collapse of tectonic plates) in the world and is the scene of strong seismic activity.
In addition to Ecuador, 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 remember the seventh anniversary of one of the most destructive earthquakes in its recent history, of magnitude 7.8.
This natural phenomenon, which occurred on April 16, 2016, left more than 670 dead, thousands affected, as well as material losses of millions.
This earthquake hit the provinces of Esmeraldas (on the border with Colombia) and its neighbor Manabí, both located on the coast of the Andean country, but it also affected other areas and was felt strongly, even in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, located in the province of Pichincha, in the Andean zone of the country. EFE
