Earthquake kills at least 15 in Ecuador and Peru and causes widespread damage to homes and buildings
At least 14 people have died in Ecuador – while a four-year-old girl has died in Peru – after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region.
The quake was centred just off Ecuador‘s Pacific Coast, around 50 miles (80km) south of the city of Guayaquil, according to the US Geological Survey.
It was also felt as far away as northern Peru, where the country’s Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, said a four-year-old girl had died after the roof of her home collapsed in the Tumbes region – on the border with Ecuador.
Authorities say 14 people have died in Ecuador, while 126 others are reported to have been injured.
Residents inside the city of Guayaquil – which is Ecuador’s second largest city and sits around 170 miles (270km) southwest of the capital Quito – reported that objects had fallen inside their homes during the tremor.
Footage shared on social media showed panicked residents rushing onto the streets.
Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso tweeted a message urging residents to stay calm, before telling reporters that the earthquake had “without a doubt … generated alarm in the population”.
Cuenca. Pic: AP
The country’s emergency response agency, the Risk Management Secretariat, said two people had died in the highlands state of Azuay.
One of the victims was said to be a passenger in a vehicle trapped under a collapsed house.
At least 14 people have died in the coastal state of El Oro, according to the president’s office, which also reported that seven houses had been destroyed and 50 more damaged by the quake.
Machala. Pic: AP
Around 20 educational buildings and more than 30 health centres are also believed to have been affected.
In the community of Machala, a city in the El Oro region, a number of people were trapped in a two-storey house after it collapsed, while a pier also sank.
Mr Lasso said on Saturday that he planned to travel to the region.
The Marine Museum of Puerto Bolivar in Machala is partially inundated in water after an earthquake
Rescue work was made more difficult due to downed power lines that affected phone and electricity.
A clip posted online showed three TV presenters darting from their studio desks as things around them started to shake.
One presenter suggested the show would go to an ad break, while another repeated: “My God, my God.”
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Cuenca. Pic: AP
A report from the Adverse Events Monitoring Directorate ruled out a tsunami threat for the South American country.
Ecuador is prone to earthquakes: In 2016 more than 600 people were killed in a quake centred in a more sparsely-populated part of the country further north on the Pacific Coast.
Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.
Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.
Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.
Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).
Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.
A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.
A woman drinks from a public tap in India. Pic: AP
They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.
Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.
Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.
People stock up on water in India. Pic: AP
Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.
Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.
Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.
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Brazil is currently experiencing another climate phenomenon – La Nina – with 39 dead and 68 missing in floods across the country.
More than 24,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.
Scientists believe the naturally-occurring phenomenon has intensified due to the impact of climate change.
China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.
Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.
Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.
“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.
“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”
Jay Tarriela, a spokesman for the Philippine Coastguard, told Sky News that China is a ‘bully’
The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.
The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.
The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.
Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.
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Sky witnesses China-Philippine confrontation
The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.
It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.
Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.
China’s coastguard fired water at Philippine coastguard vessel BRP Bagacay while Sky was onboard
He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.
“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.
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Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.
The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.
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“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.
Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.
Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.
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