A massive earthquake rocked southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, trapping others under rubble and sending rescue teams to streets strewn with debris and fallen power lines.
The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake measuring about 6.8 centered just off the Pacific coast, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second largest city. One of the victims died in Peru, while 14 others died in Ecuador, where authorities also said at least 126 people were injured.
A man takes a photo of a collapsed building after an earthquake rocked Machala, Ecuador on Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Johnny Crespo)
A police officer looks up beside a car crushed by debris after an earthquake rocked Cuenca, Ecuador on Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Xavier Caivinagua)
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso told reporters the earthquake had “undoubtedly … generated alarm in the population”. Lasso’s office in a statement said 12 of the victims died in the coastal state of El Oro and two in the highland state of Azuay.
In Peru, the earthquake was felt from the northern border with Ecuador to the central Pacific coast. Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola said a 4-year-old girl died of a head injury sustained when her house collapsed in the Tumbes region, on the border with Ecuador.
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One of the victims in Azuay was a passenger in a vehicle crushed by the rubble of a house in the Andean community of Cuenca, according to the Risk Management Secretariat, Ecuador’s emergency response agency.
In El Oro, the agency also reported that several people were trapped under the rubble. In the community of Machala, a two-story house collapsed before people could evacuate, a pier gave way and the walls of a building cracked, trapping an untold number of people.
The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.7 earthquake about 50 miles south of Guayaquil. (AP Photo/Xavier Caivinagua)
The agency said firefighters worked to save people while the National Police assessed the damage, their job made more difficult by downed lines that cut telephone and electricity service.
Fabricio Cruz, a resident of Machala, said he was in his third-floor apartment when he felt severe shaking and saw his television fall to the floor. He immediately left.
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“I heard how my neighbors were screaming and it was very loud,” said Cruz, a 34-year-old photographer. He added that when he looked around, he noticed the collapsed roofs of nearby houses.
The Ecuadorian government has also reported damage to health centers and schools. Lasso said he would go to El Oro on Saturday.
The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake measuring about 6.8 centered just off the Pacific coast, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Guayaquil. (AP Photo/Jorge Sanchez)
In Guayaquil, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Quito, authorities reported cracks in buildings and homes, as well as some collapsed walls. Authorities have ordered the closure of three vehicular tunnels in Guayaquil, which is home to a metropolitan area of more than 3 million people.
Videos shared on social media show people gathered on the streets of Guayaquil and nearby communities. People have reported items dropped inside their homes.
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A video posted online showed three anchors from one show zipping off the studio desk as the set shook. They initially tried to shrug it off as a small earthquake, but soon fled the camera. One host indicated that the show would go into commercial break, while another repeated, “My God, my God.”
Luis Tomalá was fishing with others when the earthquake struck. He said their boat started moving “like a racehorse, we got scared and when we turned on the radio, we heard about the earthquake.” It was then that his group, Tomalá said, decided to stay at sea fearing that a tsunami might develop.
Household items float in the water after an earthquake rocked Machala, Ecuador on Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Erick Feijoo)
A report from Ecuador’s Adverse Events Monitoring Directorate ruled out a tsunami threat.
Peruvian authorities said the old walls of an army barracks had collapsed in Tumbes.
Ecuador is particularly prone to earthquakes. In 2016, an earthquake centered farther north on the Pacific coast in a more sparsely populated area of the country killed more than 600 people.
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Machala student Katherine Cruz said her house shook so badly that she couldn’t even get up to leave her room and escape to the street.
“It was awful. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” she said.
