Earthquake in Ecuador: already 14 dead, including a 4-year-old girl

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A strong earthquake has rocked southern Ecuador and northern Peru, killing at least 14 people, trapping others in rubble, and streets littered with debris and downed power lines, reports ABC.

One of the victims died in Peru, another 13 — in Ecuador.

Breakage in lines interrupted telephone communications and electricity.

About 20 educational buildings and more than 30 health resorts were damaged.

The US Geological Survey reported about 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit off the Pacific coast, about 80 km south of Guayaquil, Ecuador's second largest city.

One of the victims died in Peru, and another 13 – in Ecuador, where authorities also said at least 126 people were injured.

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso told reporters that the earthquake “without a doubt” hellip; caused alarm among the population.

Lasso's office said in a statement that 11 victims died in the coastal state of El Oro and two in the mountainous state of Azuay.

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

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola said a four-year-old girl had died from a head injury following the collapse of her home in the Tumbes area on the border with Ecuador.

According to the Secretariat for Risk Management, agencies for In Ecuador's emergency response, one of the victims in Azuay was a car occupant crushed by the rubble of a house in the Andean region of Cuenca.

The agency also said that several people were trapped in El Oro.

In the community of Machala, a two-story house collapsed before people could evacuate, a pier collapsed and the walls of a building cracked, trapping an unknown number of people.

The agency said firefighters were working to rescue people in while the national police assessed the damage. The work was hampered by broken communication lines that interrupted telephone and electricity communications.

At least seven houses were destroyed and another 50 were damaged.

About 20 educational institutions and more than 30 medical centers were also damaged, and several roads were blocked by landslides caused by the earthquake.

The Ecuadorian government also reported damage to medical centers and schools. Lasso said he would go on Saturday in El Oro.

In Guayaquil, about 270 km southwest of the capital Quito, authorities reported cracks in buildings and houses, as well as the collapse of some walls.
Authorities have ordered the closure of three vehicular tunnels in Guayaquil, which is home to more than 3 million people.

Ecuador's Office of Adverse Events Monitoring has ruled out a tsunami threat in a report.

Peruvian authorities have said that in Tumbes, the old walls of an army barracks collapsed.

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

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