Another strong earthquake has struck Ecuador, less than a week after Saturday’s (April 16) deadly tremor. The epicentre of Thursday’s (April 21)
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Another strong earthquake has struck Ecuador, less than a week after Saturday’s (April 16) deadly tremor.
The epicentre of Thursday’s (April 21) magnitude-6.0 tremor was 100 km north-northwest of Portoviejo, at a depth of 10 km, the US Geological Survey said. No casualties have been reported.
Prelim M6.0 earthquake near the coast of Ecuador Apr-22 03:03 UTC, updates https://t.co/EcIVaaltkW
— USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) April 22, 2016
No damage was reported in the immediate aftermath and no tsunami threat was issued.
New powerful Ecuador earthquake reported https://t.co/QZMEz61PHV pic.twitter.com/LSVsDnqN9a
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 22, 2016
Saturday’s earthquake
Ecuador is still reeling from its worst earthquake in almost seven decades.
At least 587 people were killed in Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 ‘quake. More than 8,000 were injured, 155 people are still missing and close to 2,000 buildings were damaged, according to government figures.
Some 657 aftershocks were felt in the days leading up to Thursday and more are expected.
Recovery operations are ongoing. The United Nations and partners were due to launch an aid appeal on Friday (April 22), to help an estimated 350,000 affected people.
President Rafael Correa’s Socialist government insists there is no shortage of supplies, but rather distribution issues, which should be quickly resolved.
Shelters have been set up in football stadiums and airports for some 25,000 displaced people.
Elsewhere, Interior Minister Jose Serrano stressed the government was concentrating on house-by-house aid distribution, to ensure everyone was covered.