Second Earthquake Hits Ecuador

The coast of Ecuador was shaken by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake on Wednesday, frightening survivors and slowing down rescue efforts following a bigger quake that shook the same area over the weekend. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake hit around 25 kilometers off Muisne along the Pacific coast. It was close to the epicenter of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit the area on Saturday.

The Saturday earthquake resulted to the death of nearly 500 individuals. It destroyed a good part of the coast and affected the fragile economy of the oil-producing country. Two strong quakes hit the area for around thirty seconds and sent people running into the street. There were no reports of major damage due to the latest tremor.

The Geophysical Institute of Ecuador said there were two magnitude 6.2 earthquakes, which were followed by seventeen aftershocks. However, the USGS said the area was hit by one magnitude 6.1 earthquake. The earthquake resulted to a temporary halt in rescue operations and hopes of finding additional survivors from the previous quake started to dwindle.

The earthquake on Saturday resulted to the death of 480 people while 107 were missing. Over 4,000 people were also injured in the quake that destroyed around 1,500 buildings and triggered mudslides. Over 20,000 people slept in shelters following the quake.

Second Earthquake Hits Ecuador - image credit: cnn.com

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said the quake resulted to economic losses of around $3 billion, which may reduce growth by around 3 percent. The country is currently facing near-zero growth following lower revenues from crude oil sales, which resulted to a reduction in investments and forced the Andean nation to look for financing.

Even as aid started to trickle in, residents of isolated towns have to deal with the lack of power, water and transportation. Sports stadiums along the Pacific coast of Ecuador were converted to distributions centers and morgues.

Aid workers from other countries started to come in to provide assistance. Order was maintained by around 14,000 members of the security force, but periodic looting was reported. Even as residents begged rescuers to continue looking for survivors, hope in finding survivors started to dim.

President Correa said while there is still some glimmer of hope in finding survivors, he did not want to give too much hope. A woman who came from Quito looking for her niece and daughter told police to be careful in using an excavator while searching a hotel destroyed in Pedernales.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday April 20 2016, 6:51 PM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Uncategorized. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0