April 16, 2016 Earthquake: Manabi, Esmeraldas, Near West Coast, Ecuador

At least 668 people killed, 9 missing, 27,732 injured and 7,000 buildings destroyed including most of the town of Pedernales and its surrounding urban areas. Landslides occurred and roads and power lines were damaged. Maximum intensity VIII. Felt (VI) at Santa Elena, (V) at Guayaquil, (IV) at Cuenca, Quito and Sangolqui. Felt in most of Ecuador. One miner died near Cali, Colombia. Felt (IV) at Cali, (III) at Bogota and (II) at La Calera. Also felt at Calamar, Calarca, Cartago, Municipio de Copacabana, Ipiales, Jamundi, Manizales, Pasto, Pereira and Popayan. Felt at Piura, Requena and Santa Rosa, Peru. A tsunami with amplitude 25 cm was recorded on a Deep Ocean Gauge off Esmeraldas, Ecuador. It was also recorded on tide gauges at La Libertad and on Isla Santa Cruz with amplitudes above sea level of 14 cm and 10 cm respectively. Pedernales, Manabi, Ecuador - CDI: 9; Portoviejo, Manabi, Ecuador - CDI: 9; Eloy Alfaro, Guayas, Ecuador - CDI: 8; Esmeraldas, Esmeraldas, Ecuador - CDI: 8; Manta, Manabi, Ecuador - CDI: 8

The April 16, 2016 M 7.8 earthquake, offshore of the west coast of northern Ecuador, occurred as the result of shallow thrust faulting on or near the plate boundary between the Nazca and South America plates. At the location of the earthquake, the Nazca plate subducts eastward beneath the South America plate at a velocity of 61 mm/yr. The location and mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with slip on the primary plate boundary interface, or megathrust, between these two major plates. Subduction along the Ecuador Trench to the west of Ecuador, and the Peru-Chile Trench further south, has led to uplift of the Andes mountain range and has produced some of the largest earthquakes in the world, including the largest earthquake on record, the 1960 M 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile. While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Events of the size of the April 16, 2016 earthquake are typically about 160x60 km in size (length x width). Ecuador has a history of large subduction zone related earthquakes. Seven magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes have occurred within 250 km of this event since 1900. On May 14th, 1942, a M 7.8 earthquake occurred 43 km south of this April 16th, 2016 event. On January 31st, 1906 a M 8.3 earthquake (reportedly as large as M 8.8 in some sources) nucleated on the subduction zone interface 90 km to the northeast of the April 2016 event, and ruptured over a length of approximately 400-500 km, resulting in a damaging tsunami that caused in the region of 500-1,500 fatalities. The April 2016 earthquake is at the southern end of the approximate rupture area of the 1906 event. A shallow, upper crustal M 7.2 earthquake 240 km east of the April 2016 event on March 6th, 1987 resulted in approximately 1,000 fatalities. (reference #13456)

663 fatalities. 9 missing. In first 72 hours, 51376 received medical attention, 4605 of which had injuries. 22754 needed shelter. 113 rescued alive. 166 schools damaged moderately or severely, of the total of 560 schools impacted. 6998 buildings destroyed. 2740 buildings damaged. (reference #11492)

According to the Ecuadorian government, the estimated total loss was a little over 3.3 billionUS$ being equivalent to 3.3% of the Ecuadorian GDP (SNGR, 2016; El Universo, 2016). A total of 29,672 properties, including family houses were affected and so far at least 5,000 have been demolished (El Universo, 2016). (reference #11966)

2 billion USD in damages (reference #1250)

664 dead, 9 missing, 6274 injured, 110 0buildings destroyed, 36149 buildings damaged. 4 billion USD in damages (reference #13215)

3.35 billion USD in economic loss (reference #13727)