Ecuador earthquake: Powerful 7.5-magnitude quake hits near Peru border, with tremors felt in Quito
Ground felt shaking 150 miles away after early morning quake
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Your support makes all the difference.A 7.5-magnitude earthquake has struck Ecuador, near the country’s border with Peru
The epicentre of the quake was in a sparsely populated area 139 miles (224km) southeast of the city of Ambato. It originated struck at a depth of 82 miles (132km) at at 5.17am local time (10.17am UK time) on Friday.
The ground was felt to shake for “a good 30 seconds” in Cuenca, a city 157 miles (253km) from the epicentre of the quake, according to a witness report on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre website.
Another, from the town of Nulti, 141 miles (228kmn) west of the epicentre, said: “Strong rattling of our windows woke us up. Continued for quite some time. Outside, trees and power lines were swaying. Our dog was scared.”
The quake was also felt in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, and the coastal city of Guayaquil.
There was no risk of a tsunami being triggered, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said, and there were no initial reports of casualties or damage.
Peru’s official geophysics institute said it registered two aftershocks of 6.1 and 6.6 magnitude in the 30 minutes that followed the first quake.
Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno the earthquakes “were felt all over the country” but that early reports “don’t show major damage”.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake which shook a central area of the Ecuadorean coast on April 2016 killed more than 700 people, destroyed hundreds of houses and caused losses worth more than £2.2bn.
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