Situation
On 16 April 2016, at 23.58 UTC (18.58 hrs local time), an earthquake of a 7.8 magnitude struck Ecuador's central coast, with an epicentre at a depth of 20 km.
The epicentre is located 27 km south-southeast of a coastal town of Muisne, a sparsely populated area of fishing ports that's popular with tourists. Several aftershocks have been reported, the biggest of 5.4 magnitude.This was the country's largest quake in decades, strongly felt also in the capital, Quito, which is 169km away. The seism has been felt as well across the border in Colombia, where it shook residents in Cali and Popayan, and Peru briefly issued a tsunami warning.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert that tsunami wave of 30 centimetres to one meter may be generated for some coasts of Ecuador. Their latest alert message issued on 17 Apr, 02.59 UTC says that the threat of a tsunami has mostly passed and that any remaining risk should be evaluated by local authorities.
According to the latest national authorities' reports 142 people have died and more than 580 people have been injured. 269 buildings have been severely destroyed and 89 partly destroyed.
Widespread severe damage is reported in Manta, Pedernales, Portoviejo, Guayaquil and even in the capital Quito. In Manta the airport was closed after the control tower collapsed. Hydroelectric dams and oil pipelines in the OPEC-member nation were shut down as a precautionary measure. Serious damage was reported in the city of Guayaquil where the international airport was also closed due to a lack of communications and there have been reports of a bridge collapsed as well. In the capital the quake knocked out electricity in several neighbourhoods and six homes collapsed. The mayor of Quito stated that the situation is under control and that power has being restored.
A state of emergency has been declared in six of Ecuador's 24 provinces.