</s>A deep magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck the Peru-Ecuador border region early on Friday morning, the US Geological Survey said. The quake caused tremors that Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said were felt around the country, Reuters reports. The epicenter was in a sparsely populated area 224km (140 miles) east-southeast of Ambato, Ecuador, at a depth of 132km. The USGS’s initial reading assessed the quake, which occurred at 5:17am local time (1017 GMT), at magnitude 7.7. There was no risk of a tsunami being triggered, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. There were no reports of casualties or damage.</s>A deep earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck the Peru-Ecuador border region early on Friday morning, the United States Geological Survey said.

The quake's epicentre was in a sparsely populated area 224 km east-southeast of Ambato, Ecuador, at a depth of 132 km. The USGS's initial reading had assessed the quake, which occurred at 5:17 a.m. (1017 GMT), at magnitude 7.7.

There was no risk of a tsunami being triggered, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, and there were no initial reports of casualties or damage.

One resident in Cuenca, Ecuador, 253 km from the epicentre, described the temblor as very strong, while a second resident in the same city reported experiencing "a good 30 second shake", according to witness statements on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre website.</s>LONDON (AP) — USGS: A 7.5 preliminary magnitude earthquake has hit the Ecuador-Peru border region near Montalvo, Ecuador.</s>The United States Geological Survey (USGS) says that a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador near the border with Peru early Monday morning.

The quake’s epicenter was in a sparsely populated area 17 kilometer south of the town of Montalvo, at a depth of 132 km.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that there was no risk of a tsunami and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

A second earthquake, measured at 5.5 struck eastern Ecuador about 20 minutes later at a depth of 82 km.

According to the USGS, most major earthquakes in South America are at shallow depths of 70 km or less.</s>QUITO/LIMA (Reuters) - A deep magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck the Peru-Ecuador border region early on Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, causing tremors that the Ecuadorian president said were felt around the country.

The quake’s epicenter was in a sparsely populated area 224 km (140 miles) east-southeast of Ambato, Ecuador, at a depth of 132 km. The USGS’s initial reading assessed the quake, which occurred at 5:17 a.m. local time (1017 GMT), at magnitude 7.7.

There was no risk of a tsunami being triggered, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and there were no initial reports of casualties or damage.

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said on Twitter that preliminary reports “do not indicate major damage,” though he added that provincial response teams had been activated and that the tremors had been “felt throughout the country.”

One resident in Cuenca, Ecuador, 253 km (157 miles) from the epicenter, described the temblor as very strong, while a second resident there reported experiencing “a good 30-second shake,” according to witness statements on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre website.

Ecuador’s emergency response service said the main quake and other smaller ones had shook the south of the country with reports of some minor injuries, evacuation of patients and staff from several hospitals and damage reported in some Amazonian towns.

Some areas were without electrical power, authorities said, while the country’s oil pipelines and hydroelectric dams were operating normally.

In towns near the epicenter of the quake, the tremors caused alarm. “I felt the walls and the floor move. I was very scared and we went out to the street,” Lissette Alarcón, a 25-year-old university student, told Reuters.

“We still aren’t used to these earthquakes,” she said.

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Peru’s southern coast in January 2018, killing one person, injuring scores more and causing roads and homes to collapse. A 7.8-magnitude quake in Ecuador killed around 700 people in 2016.</s>(FOX NEWS) — A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck near the border of Ecuador and Peru early Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The earthquake struck 71 miles east of Palora with a depth of 82 miles. Another 5.5 tremblor was then felt about 9 miles southeast of Duran.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.</s>LONDON — USGS: A 7.5 preliminary magnitude earthquake has hit the Ecuador-Peru border region near Montalvo, Ecuador.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>A powerful earthquake struck eastern Ecuador early Friday, sending tremors for miles through a sparsely populated area and into neighboring Peru and Colombia. The quake hit at an intermediate depth of around 82 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

"The preliminary reports of the first earthquakes near Macas do not indicate major damages," Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno said via Twitter. He added that the effects were felt in a large swath of the country, and that regional emergency centers had been activated in case they're needed.

The earthquake struck at 5:17 a.m. local time. Its epicenter was 71 miles east-southeast of Palora, far inland and distant from Ecuador's main highways that run along its mountain ranges.

For a wide area ranging some 50-100 miles from the quake's center, the quake was felt at a magnitude of at least 5.5, according to the USGS.

"The Peru-Chile Trench is an area that hosts large earthquakes quite regularly," the USGS said. It added that 15 other intermediate depth earthquakes have occurred within 310 miles of the epicenter in the past 100 years.

"Today's earthquake is the largest of these," the USGS said.

The earthquake isn't likely to trigger a tsunami, geologists said.

"A destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected" because of the quake, the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said in notices that were sent to Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and other areas.</s>The US Geological Survey says the quake struck before dawn in Ecuador's eastern Amazon region 17 kilometers from the town of Montalvo near the border with Peru

QUITO, Ecuador – An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 hit Ecuador Friday, February 22, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

The quake struck before dawn in Ecuador's eastern Amazon region 17 kilometers (10 miles) from the town of Montalvo near the border with Peru, the US Geological Survey said.

It hit at a depth of 132 kilometers. Most major earthquakes in South America are at shallow depths of 70 kilometers or less, the USGS said.

There were two aftershocks, one in the same area and with a magnitude of just over 6.0, Ecuador's Geophysics Institute said. It gave the same 7.5 magnitude for the big quake.

"We have no reports of injuries so far, just some broken windows," said Tarcisio Ojeda, mayor of the town of Macas, in Morona Santiago province where the quake hit.

The other aftershock hit the Pacific coast region of Guayas but it did not do any harm either, President Lenin Moreno said on Twitter.

None of 3 tremors had the right features to trigger a tsunami alert, the Navy's Oceanographic Institute said.

In 2016 a quake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit the western provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas, killing 673 people and causing an estimated $3 billion in damage. – Rappler.com
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits Ecuador, near the border with Peru. It is relatively deep, with a depth of 152 km (94 mi).