Earthquake in Ecuador leaves at least one person injured and several buildings destroyed
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 22 miles at around 6:45 a.m. local time. Authorities ruled out a tsunami warning.
Earthquake in Ecuador
A magnitude-6.3 quake shook Ecuador's Esmeraldas province Friday, near the Colombian border, where one person was injured and several buildings collapsed, authorities reported.
"It was very strong and also prolonged ... It was an eternity for us, but I estimate at least half a minute," former indigenous presidential candidate Yaku Pérez, who was in Esmeraldas to present a book at a university, told AFP.
One person was injured in the head and some 30 houses are affected, said the National Secretariat of Risk Management (SNGR) in its most recent report.
">He dispuesto el despliegue inmediato de todos los ministros en la provincia de Esmeraldas para coordinar la instalación de albergues, entrega de kits de ayuda humanitaria y asistencia en todo lo que nuestra gente necesite.
— Daniel Noboa Azin (@DanielNoboaOk) April 25, 2025
El gobierno está con ustedes, y así vamos a salir…
President Daniel Noboa ordered the installation of shelters and the delivery of humanitarian aid kits. "The government is with you, and this is how we are going to get ahead," wrote the president, who traveled the day before to attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.
The quake struck at a depth of 22 miles at around 6:45 a.m. local time.
Authorities ruled out a tsunami warning.
The earthquake occurred about 5 miles from the city of Esmeraldas (northwest), capital of the province of the same name, the SNGR said. That town and the tourist town of Atacames are without electricity service.
State-owned oil company Petroecuador "suspended the operation of the Esmeraldas Refinery and the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE)," which last month suffered damage to its pipeline, through which more than 25,000 barrels of crude oil spilled.
The area where the spill occurred on March 13 "has no landslides or damage after the earthquake," it added in a statement.
The tremor was felt in 10 of the country's 24 provinces such as Manabi, Los Rios, Guayas and Pichincha, according to the SNGR. At the time of the quake "the power went out, internet went out and we had to go outside," Perez said.
Twenty minutes after the first tremor, the Ecuadorian Geophysical Institute reported another one of magnitude 4.1 in the coastal province of Guayas, in the southwest of the country, at a depth of 53 miles.
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