Why do so many earthquakes occur in Ecuador

Earthquake Ecuador

Last Saturday April 16, 2016 Ecuador suffered its worst earthquake since 1979. With a death toll of 350, the 7,8 magnitude earthquake has left the country collapsed. There are many people who have been left without a home, and others who will not be able to return to theirs until the situation has normalized. This is the bleak scene of an area of ​​the world where there have been 40 earthquakes in the last 475 years.

The question is, why?

Since the beginning of the last century, in Ecuador there have been a dozen seismic movements of great intensity. The country's situation is one of the reasons why earthquake activity is so important in the Ibero-American nation. And it is that Ecuador, like many other countries such as Chile, Bolivia, Panama, California or Japan, are in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. This region is 40.000 kilometers long, and is where the strongest earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

So much so that it is known that 80% of the most intense earthquakes in the world occur in these nations, as highlighted by the director of the seismology area of ​​the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP), Herando Taveras.

Pacific Ring of Fire

Plate tectonics are the cause of these phenomena. The planet Earth, since its birth, has always been in constant change thanks to the movement of these plates that move the continents. With respect to the Pacific Ocean, it rests on several of them, which converge and cause friction between them. In this way, tension builds up that must be released.

In the case of Ecuador, Chile, Peru and Colombia, the movements are due to the fact that the Nazca Plate it sinks under the South American Plate.

From here I would like to send a strong hug and strength for Ecuador. Much, much encouragement.


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