A high-intensity earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the South American country of Ecuador on 16 April 2016. Earthquake struck the coast of Ecuador approximately 27 km (17 mi) south-southeast of Muisne, in the province of Esmeraldas, at a depth of 19.2 km.
Three towns Manta, Portoviejo and Pedernales were badly hit. The city of Pedernales, home to more than 40000 people in Manabí Province, is destroyed.
The powerful quake that rocked the country has claimed lives of at least 413 people and around 2000 were injured. The search of survivors is still on by a team of 10000 soldiers and 4600 police officers who were deployed at the work.
The armed forces have built mobile hospitals in Pedernales and Portoviejo and set up temporary shelters.
President Rafael Correa said that the incident is the biggest tragedy to his the country in the past seven decades. He also declared a state of emergency and said the priority is finding survivors.
The quake was the largest quake in Ecuador since the 1979 Tumaco earthquake and the worst since the 1949 Ambato earthquake.
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