Earthquake kills 13 in Ecuador and one in Peru and causes widespread damage | Earthquake news

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A powerful earthquake rocked Ecuador and Peru, killing at least 14 people, damaging homes and buildings, and sending terrified residents out into the streets.

The US Geological Survey reported a 6.7-magnitude earthquake on Saturday in Ecuador’s coastal region of Guayas. The epicenter was about 80 km south of Guayaquil, the country’s second city, which anchored a metro area home to more than three million people.

The authorities said it was unlikely that the quake would cause a tsunami.

The earthquake killed 13 people in Ecuador, while at least one death was reported in Peru. The authorities in Ecuador also reported that at least 126 people were injured.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso told reporters that the quake had “undoubtedly … alarmed the population.”

“All ministries are operational and have sufficient economic resources to immediately repair the damage caused by the earthquake,” his office said. It added that 11 of the victims were killed in the coastal state of El Oro and two in the highlands of Azuay state.

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

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

The initial quake was followed by two weaker aftershocks in the next hour, according to the Geophysics Institute of Ecuador.

“We all ran out into the streets…we were very scared,” Ernesto Alvarado, a resident of Isla Puna near the epicenter, told Reuters news agency, adding that some houses had collapsed.

According to the Secretariat of Risk Management, the country’s emergency response agency, one of the victims in Azuay, Ecuador was a passenger in a car that was smashed by rubble from a home in the Andean region of Cuenca.

In El Oro, the agency also reported that several people were trapped under the rubble. In the town of Machala, a two-storey house collapsed before people could evacuate, a sidewalk collapsed and the walls of a building cracked, trapping an unknown number of people.

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

Residents look at a building that collapsed after an earthquake shook Machala, Ecuador [Jhonny Crespo/AP Photo]

Machala resident Fabricio Cruz said he was in his apartment on the third floor when he felt a strong jolt and saw his TV hit the floor. Head right away.

“I could hear how my neighbors were screaming and there was a lot of noise,” said Cruz, a 34-year-old photographer. He added that when he looked around, he noticed the rooftops of nearby houses collapsing.

The Ecuadorian government also reported damage to health care centers and schools. Laso said he will travel to El Oro on Saturday.

In Guayaquil, about 270 kilometers (170 miles) southwest of the capital Quito, authorities reported cracks in homes and other buildings as well as some collapsed walls.

Authorities ordered the closure of three tunnels.

Videos shared on social media show people gathered in the streets of Guayaquil and nearby communities. People have reported falling objects inside their homes.

One video posted online showed three TV presenters scurrying off their studio desk as the set shook.

They initially try to dismiss it as a simple earthquake but quickly flee the camera. One presenter indicated that the show was going on a commercial break while another repeated, “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

Ecuador is particularly prone to earthquakes. In 2016, an earthquake centered north on the Pacific coast in a sparsely populated part of the country killed more than 600 people.

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