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Earthquake of magnitude 6 in Ecuador, with epicenter in Guayas, motivates evacuations in Guayaquil; it was felt in 15 provinces
Posted On 05 Feb 2019
Ecuadornews:
An earthquake of magnitude 6 was recorded on Monday afternoon in the province of Guayas. The movement had a depth of 60 km with epicenter in the southwest of Guayaquil.
The quake was recorded at 12:45 and caused evacuations in buildings in Guayaquil and according to the Secretariat of Risks of Ecuador was felt in 15 provinces. Until 13:23 no personal misfortunes are reported.
The Municipal Transit Authority (ATM) of Guayaquil announced through social networks the closure of the Santa Ana, Carmen and San Eduardo tunnels to carry out inspections.
At the moment, the three tunnels are already disabled; the last one was that of Cerro del Carmen, where at 14:10 the vehicles were restarted. Here, two lanes, in a stretch of 20 meters at the exit, had been restricted.
The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (Inamhi) ruled out that a tsunami could result from the telluric movement.
In Guayaquil, the strong movement motivated the evacuation of offices in different parts of the city, one of those in the Urdesa sector, in the northern zone.
#SISMO Informe Sísmico Especial Nº 3 – 2019
— Instituto Geofísico (@IGecuador) 4 de febrero de 2019
SISMO AL SUR-OESTE DE GUAYAQUIL
El día de hoy a las 12h45 TL se registró un sismo de magnitud 6.0 MLv (5.7 Mw magnitud preferida), cuyo epicentro se… https://t.co/ArIg69mJWA
The buildings of TVCable, Directv, banks such as Bolivariano located on Bálsamos street and Víctor Emilio estrada were evacuated; also, restaurants where diners were about to have lunch.
In the streets, even nervous pedestrians call relatives to know the status of their relatives. Traffic remains normal in Urdesa.
Several workers from banks and offices went to meeting points, considered as safe areas. Some went to the parks of Urdesa, on Circunvalación Avenue.
In the south of Guayaquil, the citizens who were in the mall Mall del Sur evacuated the structure as soon as they felt that the earth stopped moving. Outside the mall located on the av. July 25, Patricia Lino, employee of a clothing store, was distressed and sought to call relatives. “He’s still shaking,” she said nervously.
Rosa Cornejo was in the column of a bank when along with other users had to evacuate the premises to the shake. After 15 minutes, a private guard invited the citizens to resume their procedures.
In Playas, the epicenter of the earthquake, the quake worried the population, but there were no reports of affected structures, according to Guillermo Borbor, chief of the fire department.
The resident Víctor Suárez pointed out that there was alarm, but after the quake, the activities returned to normal.
The Municipality of Playas indicated that its Risk Unit was evaluating possible damages.
The quake was also felt in several cities in the Sierra, such as Ambato and Cuenca. Several educational units and entities evacuated before the strong movement registered this afternoon. Some schools took their students to the streets.
People who live in buildings also took to the streets.
In Manabi, several people left their homes to feel the movement. Sara Andrade Torres ran to the street with her family. “We were having lunch and we left everything on the table,” he said. It was also felt in Tosagua, Calceta, Bahía de Caráquez, San Vicente, Jama and Pedernales.
We are afraid, said Eduardo Zambrano, from Chone, about the April 16, 2016, happening again, I thought he was dizzy, since I am ill, but seeing people running, I also left the house.
The earthquake that had as epicenter in Beaches was felt with something of intensity in Machala and the rest of cantons of the province of the Gold, several people who were inside buildings and offices went out to the street to look for a safe space.
In Machala, province of El Oro, no damage was reported in infrastructure and there were no people affected. The users of social networks alerted their friends and relatives about the natural event, most commented that they had to leave their homes because the walls moved. In a few minutes the work activities were resumed. (I)
