An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 hit this Friday, April 25, the coastal province of Esmeraldas on Friday, April 25, located in the northwest of Ecuador, which makes at least twenty injured and damaging several buildings, according to a new evaluation.
“It was very strong (…) it seemed an eternity for us,” said former presidential candidate Yaku Pérez, who was in the city of Esmeraldas, in the northwest of the country, to present a book at a university. When leaving the building, Mr. Pérez could see “some small destroyed houses.” In the streets, the inhabitants circulated avoiding the rubble, including a wall section that won a building.
Discarded tsunami alert
The earthquake was twenty injured and damaged about 60 homes, according to the latest evaluation of the National Risk Management Agency (SNGR). Electricity and telecommunications networks, as well as a bridge and roads, were also affected.
The earthquake occurred 35 kilometers deep around 6:45 am local, according to the American Geophysics Institute (USGS).
8.4 km from the city of Esmeraldas took place, the capital of the province of the same name, near the border with Colombia, and felt in 10 of the 24 provinces of the South American country, said the risk management agency.
The Ecuadore Oceanographic Institute (Inocar) has dismissed an alert in the tsunami. The recently elected Ecuadorian president, Daniel Nnovera, reacted in X when announcing the implementation of shelters and the distribution of humanitarian aid kits. “The government is by your side,” he said.
The Petroecuador National Petroleum Company said that it has “suspended the operations” of its refinery in Esmeraldas, which produces 111,000 barrels of oil per day, and the passequator pipeline that transports black gold to the Amazon side.
This pipe had suffered damage in March, causing the flight of more than 25,000 barrels of crude oil. The area of this disaster “does not present either landslides or damage after the earthquake,” the company said in a press release.
Ecuador is found in marine tectonic plates, which regularly generates tremors. Friday’s earthquake is “a consequence of the subduction process of the Nazca plate,” said Pablo Palacios, coach of the Geophysical Institute to the Ecuavisa chain.
Last week, Ecuador commemorated the 2016 earthquake that had hit Manabi and Esmeraldas. With a magnitude of 7.8, he left 673 people dead and some 6,300 wounds.
Source: BFM TV
