QUITO (AP).- A strong earthquake shook the coastal area of Ecuador this Saturdaycaused at least 12 deaths and minor damage, according to preliminary reports from the authorities.
“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 Risk Management Secretariat confirmed a death in the city of Cuenca, 310 kilometers south of the capitalwhen the second floor of a house in the colonial center of that Andean city collapsed on a vehicle that was circulating on the street.
The United States Geological Survey reported the telluric movement of magnitude 6.7 in the coastal region of Guayas. It had its epicenter about 80 kilometers south of Guayaquil, the second largest city in Ecuador, where buildings and houses are preliminarily reported cracked, broken glass, some walls fallenand commercial premises that closed for fear of aftershocks.
The authorities too have ordered the closure of three road tunnels that allow vehicular movement between different sectors of that city.
Videos of partially collapsed walls and houses in Guayaquil and Machala, where one of its piers collapsed due to the earthquake.
The earthquake tIt took place at 12:53 p.m. (17:53 GMT) in an area located near Puná Island, of very low population density, and was felt in northern Peru.
April 16, 2016 a powerful earthquake on the country’s central coast left nearly 680 deadserious destruction in cities such as Manta, Portoviejo and Pedernales, among others, and damages of around 1.5 billion dollars throughout the country, according to the authorities.
THE NATION