6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Ecuador, Toppling Power Lines and Injuring One

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook a remote area of central Ecuador Thursday, causing minor damage and regional blackouts and injuring one person, Reuters reports.

The earthquake struck the South American country about 94 km (58 miles) south of the city of Ambato and at a depth of 112 km (69 miles), according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The quake was felt in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, and in the industrial port city Guayaquil, Reuters reports, and was followed by five smaller aftershocks, according to Ecuador’s geological institute.

The earthquake also caused damage to homes and toppled power lines in the country’s sparsely populated central regions, disrupting electricity in Puertas Negras, Guano and Chunchi, Ecuador’s Risk Management Secretariat said. Landslides hit a road, and one person suffered a broken bone in Babahoyo, the capital of Ecuador’s central Los Ríos province.

Read more: Ecuador’s 2016 Earthquake: See Photos of the Destruction

South America’s Pacific Coast experiences frequent earthquakes due to the convergence of three tectonic plates, which also created the Andes mountain range, according to the USGS. In April 2016, a catastrophic 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck near the small city of Pedernales on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast, killing 650 people and causing an estimated $3 billion in damage.