THE 7.8 Mw EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI OF 16th April 2016 IN ECUADOR: Seismic Evaluation, Geological Field Survey and Economic Implications

• Main Authors: Theofilos Toulkeridis, Kervin Chunga, Fabian Rodriguez, Fernando Mato, Sissy Nikolaou, Mario Cruz D ́Howitt, Davide Besenzon, Hugo Ruiz, Humberto Parra, Xavier Vera-Grunauer, Willington Rentería
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tsunami Society International 2017-12-01
• Series: Science of Tsunami Hazards
• Subjects: Earthquake; Tsunami; seismic damage; economic losses; Ecuador 1. INTRODUCTION; Ecuador
• Online Access: http://www.tsunamisociety.org/364ToulkeridisEtAl.pdf

We evaluated the recent earthquake and tsunami responsible for considerable damage and 663 deaths due to a 7.8Mw movement on the 16th of April 2016. The seismic event filled tens of thousands in refugee camps and affected some two million persons directly. The potential of high losses and damage with a total of 29,672 properties, including family houses, is also given by the fact that the infrastructure of the fishing, tourism and other industries and the movement to live along the beaches, have been highly developed within the last decades along the Ecuadorian coasts. The geological survey and determination of field data were performed three days after the main seismic event, allowing to obtain 290 data coseismic effects on the ground that allowed to evaluate the maximum macroseismic intensities as well as the predominant geomorphological features.The results of these sampling stations allowed to reconstruct a geological map with isoseismals fields of intensities. With all the compiled and recorded coseismic data in the field of higher macroseismic intensities, we proceeded to produce a map of intensities applying the definitions and degrees of the ESI 2007 scale. We also evaluated the distribution and intensities of the aftershocks demonstrating the spatial- temporal affinities. The occurred tsunami, although less destructive than previous in the same region has been documented with all details available. The economical assessment included in this study concludes that this earthquake impacted a large part of a variety of coastal cities destroying between 70 and 80% of some close-by villages and cities with a distance of 140-150 km of the epicenter, which suffered damages of their buildings within 40 to 55%, in which lines of electricity transmission, infrastructure of water supply, hospitals, schools, private and public buildings, main roads and highways have been severely affected or even completely destroyed. The costs of the damages of the mentioned infrastructure are summing up an approximate loss of some 3.3 billion USD, being equivalent to 3.31 % of the Ecuadorian GDP. In addition to losses in infrastructure and properties, over 28 thousand jobs were lost and about 300 million US$ in trade and businesses.