At least thirteen dead and buildings damaged by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that shook southern Ecuador and reached its neighbor Peru, according to a preliminary balance of authorities.
The tremor was registered at 12:12 local time (17:12 GMT) and had its epicenter in the Ecuadorian municipality of Balao, some 140 kilometers from the port of Guayaquil, and at a depth of 44 kilometers, reported authorities from Ecuador.
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The United States Geological Survey (USGS), for its part, reported the event with a magnitude of 6.8. Peruvian seismological authorities reported a magnitude of 7.0.
According to the Secretary of Risk Management of Ecuador, in Cuenca (south) the facade of a house collapsed on a vehicle and left “a deceased person.” Nearby, in the province of El Oro, three deaths were recorded from the fall of a tower.
The movement was strongly felt in other cities such as Quito, Manabí and Manta, according to users on social networks. Images of a collapsed building, while rescuers try to lift the rubble, circulate in local media.
The president of EcuadorGuillermo Lasso, assured that he will take “immediate actions” and made a “call for calm and for information through official channels” in a Twitter message.
“So far, 12 deaths have been reported (11 in the province of El Oro and one in the province of Azuay),” the Ecuadorian presidency said in a tweet.
The seismic wave was also felt on the north and central coast of Peru, although with less intensity.
Hernando Tavera, head of the National Seismological Center of Peru, assured RPP radio that “there is no significant damage to the structure or people” in that country.
A first aftershock of magnitude 4.8 was recorded in Balao, Ecuador.
The Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute of the Navy of Ecuador He assured that the tremor “does not meet the necessary conditions to generate a tsunami” in the Pacific.