A 6.7 earthquake shakes the coast of Ecuador

An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale has shaken the Ecuadorian Pacific coast this Saturday. At the moment, some collapsed houses and power outages have been reported.

In the city of Cuenca some buildings have collapsed, according to videos posted on social networks, and in the city of Guayaquil there are several areas without electricity supply, as reported by the newspaper ‘El Universo’.

The landslide has been felt strongly in cities such as Guayaquil, Loja, Ambato, Zamora, Cuenca, Azogues or Coca. In Quito the earthquake has been slightly felt. The authorities have ruled out that a tsunami could occur.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has located the epicenter of the earthquake 6 kilometers north-northeast of the town of Baláo and 66.4 kilometers deep.

The Geophysical Institute (IG) of the National Polytechnic School of Ecuador has confirmed an earthquake from 6.5 to 29.12 kilometers from Balao, Guayas province. The tremor was registered at 12:12 local time (18:12 Spanish peninsular time).

The same body has reported a previous tremor of 4.8 magnitude with an epicenter 24 kilometers deep and 29.26 kilometers from the town of Balao.