Several strong aftershocks have occurred in the minutes after the magnitude 6 earthquake occurred on Saturday night in Ecuadorwhere damages are evaluated after reporting collapsed and other damaged homes, fallen poles and blackouts in the province of Esmeraldas.
The earthquake occurred at 23:28 local time (4:18 GMT) and its epicenter was located just 11 kilometers south of the city of Esmeraldascapital of the homonymous border province with Colombia, where the shock spread panic and led numerous people to abandon their homes after several parts of the city were without power.
This telluric movement was felt in eleven of the twenty-four provinces that make up Ecuadorwith a strong intensity in Esmeraldas and moderate in Pichinchawhere is the capital Quitoand just as in Manabi, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingoaccording to the National Risk and Emergency Management Service (SNGRE).
According to the Geophysical Institute of the National Polytechnic School, at least two aftershocks of importance were registered in the two hours after the first telluric movement, the most important of magnitude 5.1at 00:53 local time (5:53 GMT).
Before that, at 23:39 (4:39 GMT) there was another of magnitude 3.9 that occurred just eleven minutes after the first tremor.
Risk Management stated in a statement that Due to the main earthquake in Esmeraldas, 30 houses and other buildings were damagedsuch as two medical centers and the Integrated Security Service ECU911.
Material damage was reported on social networks in homes and buildings in Esmeraldas, such as collapsed balconies and cornices, as well as fallen power poles on cars, while the Delfina Torres de Concha Hospital suffered the fall of panels and some false ceilings that have not prevented it from continuing its activity.
Currently, the electricity supply has been restored in the municipalities of Esmeraldas and Atacames, as reported by the provincial Emergency Operations Committee (COE) in a statement.
Faced with this situation, the president of Ecuador, William Lassoindicated that both the national and provincial authorities They are evaluating the damage caused by this mishap and detailed that “inter-institutional teams are in the territory to attend to any need.”
Ecuador It is located in the area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, where 85% of the world’s seismic activity occurs, in its case due to the tension between the Nazca plate and the South American continental shelf.
Due to the magnitude and the time in which it occurred, this earthquake reminded many of the 2016 episode that occurred in the province of Manabí, also on the coast of Ecuador, when an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale caused 673 deaths. and thousands of wounded.
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