Rubble from Ecuador earthquake
(Image credit: Juan Cevallos/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 262 people died after Ecuador was hit Saturday with its strongest earthquake since 1979, The Associated Press reports. Thousands more were injured. President Rafael Correa declared a national state of emergency.

The magnitude-7.8 quake struck near fishing ports and tourist beaches 105 miles northwest of Quito, the nation's capital. Ecuador's earthquake was six times as strong as the more powerful of the two that shook Japan a day earlier, a geosciences professor told AP.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.