A powerful 6.3 earthquake shook the northwestern Ecuador province of Esmeraldas on Friday morning and injured at least 20 people, the government said.
The tremor struck at 6:44 am local time in the city of Esmeraldas and had a depth of 14.3 miles, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Center.
A 3.8 aftershock was registered about 25 minutes after the initial earthquake, Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute said.
Its epicenter was located 33.7 miles from San Lorenzo, also in the province of Esmeraldas.
The Navy’s Oceanographic Institute ruled out the possibility of a tsunami.
Several businesses and homes were severely damaged by the quake as images were rapidly shared on social media.
At least 540 people were displaced from their residences in four cantons in Esmeraldas.
The National Electricity Corporation reported power outages across multiple neighborhoods.
A damaged house is pictured after the earthquake that struck the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador on Friday. At least 20 people were injured, the government said.
A pedestrian walks past a building that was severely damaged by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck the northwestern Ecuador city of Esmeraldas on Friday at 6:44 am
State oil company Petroecuador suspended operations at the Esmeraldas refinery and SOTE pipeline as a preventative measure following the quake, without detailing potential production impact.
President Daniel Noboa said in a post on X that ministers in the province of Esmeraldas to set up shelters, deliver humanitarian aid kits and ‘assist with everything our people need.’
Mónica Segovia, director of the Geophysical Institute, told Ecuavisa television that the earthquake was caused by seismic activity on the Nazca plate, which is located along the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the coast of South America.
‘It penetrates beneath the continent and at some point this movement is more abrupt and instantaneous, precisely where seismic waves are produced,’ Segovia said.
The Geophysical Institute also detected a 4.1 magnitude earthquake in the province of Guayas, 218 miles south of Esmeraldas. The tremor had a depth of 53.4 miles.
‘People were very confused at first, where the earthquake was and in fact they were two different earthquakes,’ Segovia said.
