Ecuador NOW! Massive 6.3 Earthquake Hits Esmeraldas: Infrastructure Destroyed, Tsunami Alert Issued!

At 6:44 a.m. local time on April 25, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of six point three struck near the northern coast of Ecuador. The epicenter was located approximately 5.2 miles from the city of Esmeraldas, with the hypocenter at a depth of about 18.6 miles.

The tremors were felt in ten of Ecuador’s twenty-four provinces, including the capital, Quito, which lies about 118 miles to the south-southeast of the epicenter. The quake caused widespread alarm among residents. Social media users reported feeling the earthquake, describing it as “very strong” and accompanied by a loud rumble.

According to the Ecuadorian National Risk and Emergency Management Secretariat (SNGR), 32 people were injured. The earthquake caused severe damage to housing and infrastructure: at least 179 homes collapsed, and another seven hundred sixteen were damaged to varying degrees. Additionally, 88 other buildings were affected, including 18 schools, four medical facilities, and one military installation. Two bridges were also reported damaged.

Telecommunications and electricity outages impacted up to ninety percent of households in Esmeraldas Province. As a precautionary measure, the state-owned oil company Petroecuador temporarily halted operations at one of its refineries.

Although a tsunami warning was initially issued for the Pacific coast following the earthquake, it was later lifted.

Seismic activity in Ecuador did not end there. Twenty minutes after the first quake, another earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1 was recorded in the coastal province of Guayas, in the southwest of the country. According to the Geophysical Institute of the National Polytechnic School, the hypocenter of this event was located at a depth of approximately 53.4 miles.

Three days later, on April 28, three more earthquakes were registered — with magnitudes up to 3.5 — not only along the coast, but also inland, including in the capital city of Quito.

Experts note that the increasing number and strength of earthquakes and other natural disasters align with a mathematical model developed by the international scientific group ALLATRA. This model is detailed in their report “On the progression of climatic disasters on earth and their catastrophic consequences.”