At least 14 people have been killed and homes and buildings have been damaged after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Ecuador and Peru. The quake was felt in the capital cities of both countries and caused damage to buildings and infrastructure. Rescue workers are still searching for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings. The death toll is expected to rise as more information becomes available.
The strength of an earthquake varies; sometimes it is so minor that no one can feel it, and other times it is so severe that it causes entire towns, villages, and cities, among other things, to be destroyed. When two tectonic plates (blocks of the earth) unexpectedly slip past one another or when these plates rapidly move apart an earthquake results. A surface where a plate or block unexpectedly slips is known as a fault or fault plane.
Because the eruption of hot lava and gases from deep below the earth exerts pressure on the overlying crust and causes vibrations there, volcanoes are one of the main causes of earthquakes.
Due to volcanic eruption, only a small area was affected, however, the rocks of Surface fractures appear whenever the Earth’s plates are stretched. When plates are subjected to extreme pressure, the plates split, which can cause earthquakes to occur as a result of the rapid sliding or shaking of nearby rocks. This was the cause of the Assam earthquake in August 1950.
A powerful earthquake shook Ecuador and Peru, killing at least 14 people, damaging homes and buildings, and sending panicked residents into the streets. The US Geological Survey struck Ecuador’s coastal Guayas region Saturday in a 6.7 _Magnitude earthquake reported.
The quake was centred about 80 km (50 miles) south of Guayaquil, the country’s second-largest city, which is located in a metro area of more than three million people. s officials said the quake was likely to generate a tsunami. No.
The earthquake killed 13 people in Ecuador, while at least one person was reported dead in Peru. Ecuadorian officials also reported that at least 126 people were injured. Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso told reporters that The earthquake without a doubt … caused alarm among the population.
His office said that ” all ministries are activated and there are sufficient economic resources to immediately repair earthquake damage. It said 11 of the victims died in the coastal state of Oro and two in the hill state of Ajuay. From Peru’s northern border with Ecuador to the country’s central Pacific coast, the earthquake was felt there. According to Alberto Otarola, the prime minister of Peru, a four-year-old girl died from brain injuries she sustained when her home collapsed in the district of Tumbes, close to the Ecuadorian border.
The Geophysics Institute of Ecuador reports that two lesser aftershocks occurred within an hour after the first earthquake. Ernesto Alvarado, a resident of Isla Puna close to the epicentre, told the Reuters news agency that “we all ran out into the streets… we were quite afraid,” adding that some homes had collapsed.
According to reports, one of the deaths in Ecuador’s Azuay was a passenger in a car that was crushed by debris from a home in the Andean town of Cuenca. Fabricio Cruz, a resident of Machala, claimed that he was in his flat on the third floor when he felt a powerful tremor and witnessed his television fall to the floor. He departed right away.
Cruz, a 34-year-old photojournalist, stated, heard how my neighbours were shouting and there was a lot of noise. He continued by saying that when he turned to look around, he saw surrounding homes’ collapsed roofs. Schools and medical facilities were also reported damaged by Ecuador’s authorities. Lasso declared he would go to El Oro on Saturday. Authorities in Guayaquil, which is 270 kilometres (170 miles) southwest of Quito, reported wall collapses as well as fissures in houses and other structures.