Landslides affect several provinces of Ecuador

A huge rock hinders the passage on the road Banos – El Triunfo

Some roads in the provinces of Tungurahua, Azuay and Loja are blocked due to several landslides.

In Tungurahua, a rock fell on the main road Baños – El Triunfo, which connects the farmers of the surrounding communities. Jorge Toapanta, technician of the Tungurahua Provincial Government, said that the stone is 4 meters high and 6 wide, and it is about the size of a house, so to remove it, ten people are working with drills, and even dynamite.

In Azuay, the road Gualaceo- Plan de Milagro-Limon which connects with the province of Morona Santiago, was interrupted due to a landslide produced by heavy rains that were registered from the early hours of Saturday.

The Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP, for its acronym in spanish) reported landslides in the km 31, 44 and 50 from the early hours of last Monday, so technical personnel and machinery arrived at the site to clean it and it is expected that the passage be restored tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the rains of the past few days wreaked affected  the road that connects the province of Loja with Zamora Chinchipe, by six landslides occurred on Monday afternoon, affecting mostly the 56, 21 and 44 kilometers. While the machinery of the MTOP works to dislodge the debris, vehicular traffic is interrupted and every two hours the way reopens.