A powerful earthquake left at least 14 dead on Saturday, several injured and significant damage in southern Ecuador and neighboring Peru, according to an official report.
According to the American Seismological Institute USGS, the magnitude of the earthquake reached 6.8. The Ecuadorian authorities for their part evaluated the magnitude at 6.5, and those of Peru at 6.7.
The Ecuadorian presidency reported on Twitter 13 dead, including 11 in El Oro province and one in Azuay province.
In the Peruvian town of Tumbes, bordering Ecuador, a four-year-old girl died, hit in the head by a falling brick, according to an official report.
The earthquake also caused “wounded” who were taken care of by hospitals, said the Ecuadorian presidency without giving figures.
The quake, which caused extensive material damage, occurred at 12:12 p.m. (5:12 p.m. GMT) with an epicenter in the town of Balao at a depth of 44 kilometers, according to authorities.
The earthquake caused panic among residents who took to the streets. Buildings collapsed in several towns, including Cuenca, one of the hardest hit.
“I went out into the street because I saw people running, terrified, others getting out of cars,” Magaly Escandón, a sewing items seller in this Andean city, told AFP.
Collapsed buildings, cracked walls, vehicles crushed by debris. In the historic center of Cuenca, old houses were damaged, AFP journalists reported.
The earthquake was felt in Quito, Manabi and Manta, according to accounts on social media.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso issued a “call for calm and information through official channels” in a message on Twitter.
According to the Ecuadorian Navy’s Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute, the tremor “does not meet the conditions likely to generate a tsunami” in the Pacific.
