A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador on Thursday, leaving no one injured but damaging the port of Guayaquil, the epicenter of the quake, the Institute of Geophysics said.
The institute said the quake was felt by residents “on a national level.”
The earthquake occurred at 17:3 (22:30 GMT) and occurred 13 km from the village of Simon Bolivar, near the port of Guayaquil.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Laso urged residents to “calm down”. He tweeted that authorities are “assessing potential damage in the area.”
“At first I thought it was the wind, but suddenly I felt everything moving,” Maria Eugenia Rosero, a retired teacher who lives in northern Guayaquil, told AFP. She added that the quake “was short but strong.”
The council of the city, which has a population of about three million, indicated that a house had collapsed in the city being demolished, and some buildings suffered minor damage.
Residents of the area took to the streets to shelter from possible landslides.
Ecuador lies on the Nazca and South American sea plates, which leads to frequent earthquakes.
