Image: Earthquake.

Several people have died in different cities affected by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that occurred this Saturday near the city of Balao, in the province of Guayas (Ecuador), according to data from the US Geological Survey. (USGS, for its acronym in English). 

According to the latest statement published by the Latin American country's Secretariat for Risk Management, three people have died on Jambelón Island, located in the Santa Rosa canton, while one person has lost their life in the city of Cuenca, in the province of Azuay.

Machala, Ecuador pic.twitter.com/DT34e2RL5j

— LIVE (@AlexSamCamp) March 18, 2023

The agency indicates that a series of houses and a communications tower have collapsed in the four affected provinces, leaving people trapped, for which reason firefighters and the Police have been deployed to carry out the rescue work.

It also details that a landslide caused by the earthquake left an affected road in the Licán curve, in Chimborazo.

#Basin |

#6.5 magnitude earthquake shakes the entire country, Cuenca being one of the cities with the first damage report.

A house in the historic center fell and there were vehicular crashes.

Report us from your city, did you feel it?#URGENT #Earthquake #Tremor pic.twitter.com/WVlcSLmRWp

– IPE NEWS (@IpeNoticias) March 18, 2023

The focus of the tremor was located 6 kilometers from Balao, at a depth of 65.7 kilometers.

The quake was felt in 13 provinces of the country, as well as in northern Peru.

The Oceanographic Institute of the Ecuadorian Navy reported that the characteristics of the earthquake "do not meet the necessary conditions to generate a tsunami on the continental and insular coast" of the country.

Images of the damage caused by the telluric movement in Cuenca circulate on social networks.

MADDENING

This is how the #tremor was experienced in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The preliminary report indicates that the #earthquake was 6.5 magnitude.#78AñosEnNoticias pic.twitter.com/hIFn4DjQia

— Radio Atalaya 680 AM (@680radioatalaya) March 18, 2023

For its part, the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) reports that a magnitude 4.8 aftershock was recorded shortly after, also near Balao.

#SISMO

Exact moment when the strong #tremor occurs in the Plaza de San Francisco in #Guayaquil pic.twitter.com/b7HNnz1Lq1

— Zoom Ec (@ZoomEcuador) March 18, 2023

In the municipality of Puerto Bolívar, province of El Oro, part of a dock structure gave way and fell into the water.

Puerto Bolivar - Machala #Earthquake #Tremor #Ecuador pic.twitter.com/I5Q6wYiMNi

– Jota L. (@jotaludena) March 18, 2023

In the city of Machala, a building also collapsed, although no victims have been reported at the moment.

Puerto Bolivar - Machala #Earthquake #Tremor #Ecuador pic.twitter.com/I5Q6wYiMNi

– Jota L. (@jotaludena) March 18, 2023

(With information from RT Spanish)