A powerful earthquake rocked southwestern Ecuador and northern Peru. As a result, at least thirteen people in Ecuador have died, says President Lasso. There is also damage in several places. One person died in Peru.
The quake had a magnitude of 6.8, according to the US Geological Survey. The center was about 80 kilometers south of the city of Guayaquil, a metropolis with three million inhabitants. In various places, people ran out of their homes in panic, eyewitnesses report. President Lasso has called on his residents to keep the peace.
One of the fatalities, according to the authorities, is someone who was buried in a vehicle under the rubble of a house. That happened in the city of Cuenca. Three others were killed in El Oro province. The rescue work is difficult in some places because telephone and power cables have come down in some places.
In Guayaquil, houses and buildings have been damaged. Some walls have collapsed. Three tunnels are closed. A pier has collapsed in the city of Machala.
A TV broadcast was interrupted because of the earthquake:
In neighboring Peru, the quake was felt in the north on the border with Ecuador. According to Prime Minister Otárola, a 4-year-old girl has died. She suffered head injuries after her home collapsed.
