At least 15 people died and several were injured on Saturday (March 18th) in an earthquake in southern Ecuador and Peru, which caused extensive damage, according to a new official report published Sunday.

According to the US Seismological Institute USGS, the magnitude of the earthquake reached 6.8. The Ecuadorian authorities have estimated it at 6.5 and those of Peru at 6.7.

In Ecuador, 14 people were killed in the southwestern provinces of El Oro and Azuay and several others were injured, the presidency said.

In the Peruvian city of Tumbes, on the border with Ecuador, a four-year-old girl was killed by a brick that fell on her head, according to authorities.

"Where the puddle of blood is, she was playing with my other niece and a block fell on her," David Alvarado, the child's uncle, told AFP.

The quake occurred at 12:12 p.m. (17:12 GMT), at a depth of 44 km, with the epicenter of the city of Balao, about 140 km south of the large Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil. It caused panic among residents who took to the streets. Homes collapsed in several cities, including Cuenca, in Azuay province, one of the worst affected.

"I went out into the street because I saw people running, terrified, others getting out of cars," Magaly Escandón, a sewing saleswoman in the Andean city, told AFP. "They were running, they were screaming, they were crying."

In the historic centre of Cuenca, AFP journalists saw collapsed buildings, damaged old houses, cracked walls and vehicles crushed by debris. Several streets in the city were blocked due to landslides caused by the earthquake.

Ecuadorian authorities reported 360 buildings destroyed or damaged in the country. A total of 22 landslides were reported in Azuay province.

In Tumbes, 12 homes were damaged.

Call for calm

The earthquake was felt as far away as the capital Quito, according to testimonies on social networks.

"I appeal for calm and to be informed through official channels," tweeted Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, who immediately went to the province of El Oro and then to Cuenca to "see the damage".

Brazil on Sunday expressed its solidarity with the two affected countries, as Chile had already done the day before, saying it was "ready to provide all possible assistance to the authorities to respond to the humanitarian emergency".

The memory of the devastating earthquake that shook Ecuador in 2016 is still fresh in this country. With a magnitude of 7.8, the earthquake killed 673 people and destroyed coastal villages. The losses were estimated at more than three billion euros.

"This is a relatively high magnitude for (...) the country," Mario Ruiz, director of Ecuador's Geophysical Institute, told local FM Mundo radio about Saturday's quake. "In the Gulf of Guayaquil region, we have had since 2017 (...) about two earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 5.0 per year," he said.

"After 12:13 p.m., the most important aftershock occurred at 12:22 p.m.," Ruiz added, noting that there were eight aftershocks in total.

With AFP

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