Highlights
366 people dead, 231 missing, 2,658 injured, 640 people in shelters, 805 destroyed buildings, 608 buildings with damage and 119 schools affected.
Six provinces under a "state of emergency": Manabí, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, Guayas, Santo Domingo and Los Ríos. Manabí is the most affected.
Pedernales, a canton in Manabí (population around 55,000 – 2010 census) was declared a "disaster zone" and Access limited due to infrastructure damage.
A 13 member UNDAC team conformed by search and rescue experts, information management, environment, needs assessment and coordination of the response has been mobilized to the country and are establishing coordination hubs in Quito and Manta.
PAHO/WHO has sent a team of emergency experts upon request of the Government of Ecuador.
Situation Overview
A 7.8 earthquake (Richter scale) hit Northern Ecuador at 18:58 local time, Saturday 16 April 2016. The epicentre was 27 kilometres from the small coastal town of Muisne (west of the Province of Esmeraldas), with a depth of 20 kilometres. The earthquake is linked to the constant movement between the Nazca and Placa tectonic plates in the Pacific.
The worst damage was reported in the canton of Pedernales, which was declared a "disaster zone". Access has been limited due to damages to infrastructure.
The Government declared a “State of Exception” for 6 provinces: Esmeraldas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Guayas, Santo Domingo and Los Ríos. Authorities report 366 people dead, 231 missing, 2,658 injured and many buildings and roads are destroyed or damaged.
The health system is on Maximum Alert to attend to its citizens To date there are 640 people in 14 shelters: 4 Esmeraldas, 4 Babahoyo, 2 Guayas, 1 Santo Domingo, 2 Portoviejo y 1 Quito.
Manabí has restored 41% of its electrical services. The rest of the country has electricity. Refineries are functioning and access to fuel services is normal.