14 Killed, Several Injured As 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hit Ecuador And Peru

At least 14 people were killed in a strong earthquake of 6.8 magnitudes that shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday. According to the media reports, several were trapped under rubble and rescue teams are deployed into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines.

Details of the Ecuador earthquake

Taking notes from the quake, the US Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 that was centred just off the Pacific Coast, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second-largest city.

As per the reports, one of the victims died in Peru, while 13 others died in Ecuador, where authorities also reported that at least 126 people were injured.

Taking to Twitter, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said, “We remain in the territory verifying the damage caused by the earthquake this morning. I want to confirm that I am with you and express my solidarity and commitment to the victims.”

Speaking to the media, the president said that the earthquake had “without a doubt … generated alarm in the population.”

Moreover, the President’s office in a statement said that 11 of the victims died in the coastal state of El Oro and two in the highlands state of Azuay.

In Peru, the earthquake was felt from its northern border with Ecuador to the central Pacific coast.

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Peruvian PM on earthquake

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola said a 4-year-old girl died from head trauma she suffered in the collapse of her home in the Tumbes region, on the border with Ecuador.

According to Ecuador’s emergency response agency, one of the victims in Azuay was a passenger in a vehicle crushed by rubble from a house in the Andean community of Cuenca, according to the Risk Management Secretariat.

The agency also reported that in El Oro several people were trapped under rubble. In the community of Machala, a two-story home collapsed before people could evacuate, a pier gave way and a building’s walls cracked, trapping an unknown number of people.

The agency said firefighters worked to rescue people while the National Police assessed the damage, their work made more difficult by downed lines that interrupted telephone and electricity service.