7.5-magnitude earthquake hits southern Ecuador
A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has struck southern Ecuador close to the country's border with Peru.
The US Geological Survey said the quake happened 71 miles south-east of the town of Palora, in the Morona Santiago province, at a depth of 82 miles.
The quake was felt in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, and the coastal city of Guayaquil.
There have been no immediate reports of possible casualties or damage.
Peru's official geophysics institute said it registered two aftershocks of 6.06 and 6.6 magnitude in the 30 minutes that followed the first tremor.
Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said on his official Twitter account that "preliminary reports of the quakes near Macas (the provincial capital of Morona Santiago) don't show major damage".
EARTHQUAKE IN ECUADOR: First images from #Ecuador. #Temblor #Earthquake pic.twitter.com/0pI2XgtBI6
— Earthquakes World (@Terremoti7) February 22, 2019
The quakes, he wrote, "were felt all over the country".
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake which shook a central area of the Ecuadorean coast on April 16 2016, killed more than 700 people, destroyed hundreds of houses and caused losses worth more than €2.5bn.
