Update: Ecuador earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills at least 77 people

Justin Carissimo
The Independent (UK)
Sun, 17 Apr 2016 07:29 UTC

At least 77 people have been killed after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador's central coast.

Officials have declared a state of emergency in six of the country's 24 provinces and the National Guard. The tremor destroyed homes and collapsed one major overpass.

President Rafael Correa urged the country's 16 million people to remain calm during the crisis.

"Our infinite love to the families of the dead," he said on Twitter. He also announced that he would cut short his trip to Italy to return home.

Vice President Jorge Glas also announced that the number of injured people were not currently available but he admitted that the death toll is expected to rise.

"It's very important that Ecuadoreans remain calm during this emergency," Vice President Glas announced in a televised address.

"We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do," said Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales near the epicentre.

He pleaded for rescuers as dozens of buildings in the town were flattened, people trapped and looting broke out amid the chaos. "This wasn't just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town."

On social media residents shared photos of homes collapsed, the roof of a shopping centre coming apart and supermarket shelves shaking violently. In Manta, the airport was closed after the control tower collapsed, injuring an air force official. Hydroelectric dams and oil pipelines in the OPEC-member nation were shut down as a precautionary measure.

Car flattened by collapsed overpass after 7.8 magnitude #earthquake in #Ecuador. pic.twitter.com/Zbw5QGI9Xa
— Scott McClellan (@bamasevere) April 17, 2016

Zoila Villena, a Quito resident said that she is in a current "state of panic."

"My building moved a lot and things fell to the floor," Villena told The Associated Press. "Lots of neighbors were screaming and kids crying."

That was the control tower Airport #Manta after earthquake in Ecuador pic.twitter.com/OzcUHnumvO
— Airplane Pictures ️ (@iLove_Aviation) April 17, 2016

The US Geological Survey said the shallow quake, the strongest since 1979 to hit Ecuador, was centred on south-southeast of Muisne, a sparsely populated area of fishing ports that is popular with tourists.

Additional reporting by AP

Reader Comments

Niall · 2016-04-17T17:08:56Z

All authorities' predicament

"We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do..."

Luther · 2016-04-17T19:29:20Z

18-year Ecuadorian Cycle (UPDATED)

Unlike other extreme weather phenomena occurring around the world these days, this earthquake is a direct response to stress building up between the Nazca and South American plates. It is almost identical to the 1942 earthquake. Both were 7.8 magnitude, in the middle of the rupture zone (as defined in this analysis), and followed a cycle in which the previous mega-thrust earthquake was relatively weak.

For the more progressive thinkers among you, please note that this stress buildup would occur in both the tectonic plate and expanding Earth models.

The important point to grasp is that it was highly predictable because of the constancy of the ocean floor spreading, and occurs with great regularity on average every 18.5 years. It has been 18 years since the last one. This very obvious pattern has not been recognized because of the utterly stupid academic debate that the 1942, 1958, and 1979 quakes either equal or do not equal the 1906 quake in total energy release (see details below). This argument, regardless on which side of the fence you stand, has distracted everyone from noticing the obvious 18-year cyclic nature of the seismic event.

The 1906 to 1942 gap is exactly two 18 year cycles. My guess is that because the 1906 quake was an 8.3, the missing 1925 quake went unnoticed, possibly being as small as a 6.9. But it certainly did occur whether the USGS is aware of it or not. We know this again because the rate of spreading of the ocean floor crust is so utterly predictable.

Ignoring the two southernmost mega-thrust earthquakes that were distinctly part of this cycle did not help either. These were the 1956 7.0 and the 1998 7.2 earthquakes. Had the 1956 mega-thrust been properly considered than the rupture zone would be understood to extend further south than previously thought. The 1998 would then have been understood to be part of the same mechanism and the 18-year cyclic pattern would have been recognized sooner. Both of these smaller mega-thrust earthquakes are critical to understanding the true extent of the rupture zone and the 18-year cycle of stress release between the two plates. (For some reason the southernmost quakes in the rupture zone are smaller and the northernmost are larger.)

Note that there were two quakes in the 1950's cycle because 1958 was the peak of the Modern Maxima.

Even if you insist on the "what equals the 1906" argument, according to the USGS, an 8.3 releases as much energy as more than five 7.8's. Here is the energy release since 1906:

1925 7.0 (year and magnitude estimated)
1942 7.8
1956 7.0
1958 7.6
1979. 7.7
1998 7.2
2016 7.8

Even using this totally fallacious argument, THIS EPISODE IS OVER except for the equally predictable aftershocks of significantly smaller magnitude, at least for another 18 years.

Quote of the Day

"We have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction."

~ US State Department, 1948

- George Kennan

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Update: Ecuador earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills at least 77 people

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