Saturday March 18, 2023 | 7:38 p.m.

At least twelve people died from the 6.7-magnitude earthquake that shook the Ecuadorian Pacific coast this Saturday, the Ecuadorian Government’s Risk Management Secretariat reported.

The state body confirmed for the moment the deceased in the province of El Oro and in the province of Azuay. In addition to registering dozens of injuries.

The earthquake was felt in thirteen provinces throughout the country, although the damage is centered in Guayas, Azuay, El Oro and Chimborazo, mainly in cities such as Cuenca, Machala and Guayaquil.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) located the epicenter of the earthquake about 6 kilometers north-northeast of the town of Baláo, a canton located in the province of Guayas, registered at a depth of 66.4 kilometers.

“The tremor was felt strongly at 12:12 local time, for a few seconds,” the dpa news agency reported.

In the port city of Guayaquil, people had to take to the streets in the face of the strong movement. People who were in commercial premises, entities, medical clinics and shopping centers had to leave their places.

The Geophysical Institute indicated that the earthquake was at a depth of 44 km, 29.12 km from Balao, Guayas. Minutes later, the IG indicated that the earthquake was on Puná Island, with a magnitude of 6.5.

For its part, the Geophysical Institute (IG) belonging to the National Polytechnic School of Ecuador confirmed that the earthquake “was noted in the towns of La Vicentina, Pomasqui, Carcelén and Nayón,” said the newspaper ‘El Comercio’, from Quito. Several sectors of the city were left without electricity service after the strong earthquake.

The cities of the southern zone such as Cuenca, in the Andean mountains and in Azogues, also strongly felt the seismic movement.

Also in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, the movement was felt slightly, while in Cuenca there are reports of a collapsed structure on Sucre and Tarqui streets, in the center. Several sectors of the city were left without electricity service after the strong earthquake.

In the provinces of El Oro, in the south of the country, and Los Ríos, in the coastal region, the earthquake was felt strongly, while in Esmeraldas, in the north, it was somewhat mild, according to preliminary reports from the IG.

“From the cities of Guayaquil, Loja, Ambato, Zamora, (in the south of the Amazon area), Cuenca or Manabí, strong tremors were also reported,” reported the morning newspaper ‘El Universo’ from Guayaquil.

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