Moderate deadly earthquake close to Quito, Ecuador – at least 2 people killed by landslides

 

Last update: August 12, 2014 at 9:36 pm

Earthquake-report.com

Update 21:26 UTC : Still in the Catequilla mine, new reports are talking about 4 people trapped (unclear whether it is in a mine or house) and 8 people injured.

Update 21:16 UTC : at least 2 people killed by landslides in a mine in Catequilla close to the Middle of the World or Equator, Mitad del Mundo as many people will know it.

Update 21:13 UTC : There are 90,000 people living in a radius of only 10 km around the 5 km hypocenter!

Update 21:04 UTC : All Quito tunnels were closed for traffic.

Some experience reports :
* I live on the 4th floor (top floor) of my apartment building and I felt the building shake. Some glass ware fell in the kitchen, but I didn’t notice any damage other than that. Car alarms went off and the shaking lasted for at least 30 seconds with a small after shock.
* As a tourist in Quito , I am still scared . As I was sitting on the couch I felt the couch shake I look around I see the the tables shake around me the doors moved . I didn’t know what to do at that moment because I have never ever felt something like this before . As I look outside I see all the neighbors outside with their family’s member waiting to see what would happened .

Update 20:59 UTC : The Quito International airport was evacuated after the shaking (see image below). IGecuador told newspapers that the epicenter was in #Collas, East of Calderón, Quito

Update 20:55 UTC : El Comercio, a Quito newspaper has unconfirmed reports of collapsed buildings in the in the Northern part of Quito

Update 20:50 UTC : An impressive picture from the Twitter account of @oscargellegosTV Huge clouds of dust can be seen in the hills during the shaking

Update 20:46 UTC : Multiple landslides are reported in the Quito area. We are especially scared for these landslides as poor people have often build their houses agains steep hills , which in case of a landslide can be extremely dangerous.

On this Twitter picture a landslide has covered the river valley !

Update 20:40 UTC : IG Ecuador reports that the Magnitude was measured as 5.2 at a depth of 5 km. 4 minutes later an M4.3 aftershock occurred in the same area.

Update 20:33 UTC : The epicenter of the earthquake seems to be located a little North West of the new Quito Airport. This area is definitely not a volcanic area. There are some volcanoes in the direct vicinity of Quito, but not at this particular location.

Update 20:31 UTC : We try to obtain local seismic information but the servers cannot be reached (probably due to too high demand)

Update 20:26 UTC : Earthquakes are a common event in Quito, but most of them are deep subduction earthquakes. They pose little danger to the infrastructure of the city. There is however also a fault line running along the city who generates sometimes very strong to massive earthquakes and this fault line can be extremely dangerous. The, after all, moderate earthquake today is a shallow type, reason why we call it dangerous if below populated areas.

Update 20:22 UTC : USGS now reports a Magnitude of 5.1 but at the extremely dangerous depth of 7.7 km.

Update 20:14 UTC : Earthquake-report.com calls this earthquake dangerous for damage and even injuries. The hills surrounding Quito are the most vulnerable

Update 20:11 UTC : We are not sure yet about the depth of the hypocenter – preliminary data show 20 to 50 km.

Update 20:07 UTC : Preliminary Magnitude 4.9 – Epicenter North of Quito

23 km NE of Quito, Ecuador / pop: 1,399,814 / local time: 14:58:07.2 2014-08-12
705 km SW of Bogotá, Colombia / pop: 7,102,602 / local time: 14:58:07.2 2014-08-12
1011 km S of Panamá, Panama / pop: 408,168 / local time: 14:58:07.2 2014-08-12

23km (14mi) NE of Quito, Ecuador
30km (19mi) WSW of Cayambe, Ecuador
36km (22mi) SSW of Otavalo, Ecuador
48km (30mi) SSW of Atuntaqui, Ecuador
23km (14mi) NE of Quito, Ecuador