Attachments
Timeframe covered by this update: 22 April 2016 to 30 April 2017
Operation Summary
On 16 April 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake (Richter scale) struck off the coast of northern Ecuador at 6:58 pm local time. The epicentre was closest to the area between Cojimíes and Pedernales (Manabí province) and near the Muisne canton (Esmeraldas province). According to official figures, 663 people died, 6,274 were injured, 383,090 were affected, and 9 remain missing. A total of 113 people were rescued alive. Approximately 35,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, leading to 28,775 people relocated to collective centres. In sum, more than one million people were affected directly or indirectly by the earthquake.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the Government of Ecuador declared a state of emergency in 6 of the country’s 24 provinces; the town of Pedernales (Manabí province) was declared a disaster zone. The heavy precipitation during this past winter season (November 2016 - April 2017) combined with the impacts of the earthquake and aftershocks have led to the state of emergency continuing in the Esmeraldas and Manabí provinces.1 A 6.8 (Richter scale) aftershock on 19 May and two others on 10 July 2016 measuring 6.3 and 6.5 increased the humanitarian needs, particularly in psychosocial support and community-based disaster risk reduction. Other large replicas were reported in Atacames (Esmeraldas) on 19 December 2016. From the 16 April 2016 earthquake through 30 April 2017, the National Geophysical Institute registered 3,556 aftershocks.
In the first 24 hours after the event, ERC, with IFRC support, deployed its disaster response team to rapidly respond and provide immediate humanitarian support to communities most affected by the earthquake. Technical teams were deployed from across the country, working along the following lines of action:
-
Search and rescue
-
Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (DANA)
-
Pre-hospital and primary health care
-
Psychosocial support
-
Restoring of family links
-
Relief and humanitarian shelter assistance
-
Safe water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion
As of October 2016, a total of 5,164 mobilizations of ERC volunteers and staff and Ecuadorian Red Cross Technological Institute (ISTCRE) students were deployed to assist the above lines of action. This Appeal operation has supported travel costs, food and lodging in the camp for volunteers in Pedernales, visibility and protection equipment (t-shirts, vests, boots, masks, torches, etc.), as well as personal hygiene items.
Humanitarian aid was delivered based on a methodology that consisted in identifying needs from the earthquakeaffected areas that fulfilled the selection criteria established by the ERC in its plan for this response operation.
Based on the needs analysis carried out in the field with support from volunteers and technical personnel, most of the beneficiaries were registered using the Open Data Kit (ODK) tool and humanitarian aid subsequently was distributed using the Mega V tool.