Quito, Mar 19 (EFE).- At least 14 people have been killed and 446 others injured after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook Ecuador’s coastal Guayas region, according to authorities on Sunday.

Handout photo of Ecuador president Guillermo Lasso (c), visiting an earthquake victim at the Hospital del Seguro Social in Machala, Ecuador, 19 March 2023. EFE/ HANDOUT Presidencia De Ecuador/EDITORIAL USE ONLY (MANDATORY CREDIT)

The Ecuadorian government said 12 of the deceased in Saturday’s quake were registered in the El Oro province, bordering Peru, while the remaining two were in the southern province of Azuay.

A state of emergency is expected to be declared in the next few hours in Azuay because the earthquake has triggered some 22 landslides, the ministry of transport and public works predicted.

Some 180 houses were damaged, and 84 others were shattered, among other material damages in the quake, which was felt in 13 of the country’s 24 provinces and followed by several aftershocks.

Ecuador is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which accounts for around 85 percent of global seismic activity.

The South American country will soon mark the seventh anniversary of the magnitude-7.8 earthquake of April 16, 2023, which left more than 670 people dead. EFE

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