August 12, 2014 Earthquake: Quito, Ecuador

At least 2 people killed, 8 injured, 4 trapped and 64 houses and 25 apartments damaged at Pomasqui. Landslides occurred at Cumbaya, Oyacoto and Pomasqui. Felt (V) at Otavalo and Quito; (III) at Ibarra. Also felt at Cotacachi, Esmeraldas and Sangolqui

Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region)

The South American arc extends over 7,000 km, from the Chilean margin triple junction offshore of southern Chile to its intersection with the Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle beneath South America. The convergence associated with this subduction process is responsible for the uplift of the Andes Mountains, and for the active volcanic chain present along much of this deformation front. Relative to a fixed South America plate, the Nazca plate moves slightly north of eastwards at a rate varying from approximately 80 mm/yr in the south to approximately 65 mm/yr in the north. Although the rate of subduction varies little along the entire arc, there are complex changes in the geologic processes along the subduction zone that dramatically influence volcanic activity, crustal deformation, earthquake generation and occurrence all along the western edge of South America...

(above from reference #13456)

Two people were killed in Ecuador on Tuesday after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital of Quito, with eight others wounded and rescue workers still seeking to free others trapped after the tremor. The National Risk Control Agency said the earthquake triggered a landslide at a quarry in the Quito area that killed two people who worked there, adding that firemen were searching for three others. "Obviously the landslide was caused by the tremor, but there was already weakness there due to illegal mining ... or quarries being exploited improperly," President Rafael Correa told reporters in the port city of Guayaquil. Separately, the mayor of Quito reported that only one person died in the landslide and that a 4-year-old boy was killed in another part of the city when sacks of rice fell on top of him. (reference #11066)

3 deaths 18 injured (reference #1250)