Ecuador Hit by 6.7 Quake; Minor Injuries, Light Damage Reported

An earthquake in the same region had killed more than 650 people in April.

A collapsed building is seen in Pedernales, after an earthquake struck off Ecuador's Pacific coast, April 22, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Guillermo Granja

Quito: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Ecuador's coast overnight on May 18, causing minor injuries and light damage in the same region where a 7.8 tremor killed more than 650 people last month.

The quake on May 18 cut electricity in some coastal areas and sent people running into the streets as far away as the highland capital of Quito, witnesses said.

President Rafael Correa said the epicenter was the fishing village of Mompiche on the Pacific coast, about 368 km (229 miles) from Quito.

"There are some light injuries because people ran out, or bumped into things," Correa said on state television, adding there were also some minor damage mainly to infrastructure already hit by the April disaster.

There was no tsunami warning.

The April 16 earthquake, Ecuador's worst in nearly seven decades, flattened buildings along the coast.

As well as the fatalities, it also injured more than 6,000 people, left nearly 29,000 homeless, and caused an estimated $2 billion in damage, according to the government's latest tally.

Correa described the latest tremor as another aftershock from the April quake. "Despite the alarm and the scare and the possibility of new damage ... it's normal, you expect aftershocks for two months after," he said.

(Reuters)

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