On Saturday, a powerful earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru, killing at least a dozen people, trapping others under rubble and sending rescuers into streets littered with debris and downed power lines.
The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.8 earthquake centred just off the Pacific Coast, about 50 miles south of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second-largest city.
In a televised address to the nation, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said the earthquake killed 12 people.
According to the Risk Management Secretariat, the South American country’s emergency response agency, one victim was a passenger in a vehicle crushed by rubble from a house in the Andean community of Cuenca.
On Saturday, the US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.7 earthquake about 50 miles south of Guayaquil.
According to the agency, three people died and several were trapped under rubble in the coastal state of El Oro. A two-story home in Machala collapsed before people could escape, a pier gave way, and the walls of a building cracked, trapping an unknown number of people.
According to the agency, firefighters worked to rescue people while the National Police assessed the damage, a task made more difficult by downed power lines that disrupted phone and electricity service.
Authorities in Guayaquil, about 170 miles southwest of Quito, reported cracks in buildings and homes, as well as some collapsed walls. Authorities have ordered the closure of three vehicular tunnels in Guayaquil, which serves as the hub of a metro area of more than 3 million people.
