A building was collapsed in Pedernales, Ecuador, on Sunday after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake^^
QUITO, Ecuador — The strongest earthquake to strike Ecuador in decades left the Andean nation traumatized on Sunday, with collapsed buildings in a swath of destruction stretching hundreds of miles. More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded.
President Rafael Correa cut short a visit to Europe and decreed a national emergency after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Saturday night, shaking the central coast. The effects could be felt in the capital, Quito, and into parts of Peru and Colombia.
President Correa said in a Twitter post midday Sunday that at least 233 people had been killed.
Ecuador has a history of destructive earthquakes, but the one on Saturday, which by some accounts lasted more than a minute, was believed to be one of the most powerful since the 1970s. Some geologists said its force was 20 times greater than the deadly earthquake that struck southern Japan last week.
Vice President Jorge Glas said that more than 570 people had been wounded, The Associated Press reported.
The earthquake’s center was 16 miles southeast of Muisne, Ecuador, the United States Geological Survey said The president’s national emergency decree gives the government expanded authority and a state of emergency in six of the country’s 24 provinces. Deaths were reported in the northern provinces of Esmeraldas, Manabí and Guayas, along the northern border with Colombia
^^Residents outside a house destroyed by an earthquake in Pedernales, Ecuador, on Sunday
Adriana Villacís, a 40-year-old nurse, was with her husband and her 4-year-old son at a supermarket about 30 minutes from Quito when, she said, groceries began to fall to the floor.
“The first thing I did was protect my son and look for the exit, but a part of the roof fell, and I was frozen,” she said. “Thank God we weren’t physically harmed, but the shock caused my child to vomit.”
In the Pedernales district, near the epicenter, a number of homes fell, damaging parked cars.
On Avenue Mariscal Sucre in northern Quito, signposts fell, causing panic among drivers. Jorge Espinel decided to park his car to avoid an accident.
“It was terrible, such a shock,” he said. “I don’t have words for what I felt.”
In Quito, where the shaking was felt for about 40 seconds and residents took to the streets in fear, the quake appeared to have knocked out electricity and cellphone coverage in several neighborhoods.
The mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas, said there had been rockslides on roads leading to the capital and reports that the walls of houses had fallen. But, he said, no fatalities or injuries had been reported in the city.
In Guayaquil, an overpass collapsed on top of a car, and the roof of a shopping center buckled. In Manta, the airport was closed after the control tower was severely damaged.
President Correa urged people to show strength while he and the authorities monitored events.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that the tsunami threat from the earthquake had passed.
The quake had a depth of nearly 12 miles. Several aftershocks, some as strong as magnitude 5.6, continued after the initial quake.
posted from Bloggeroid
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