‘It was a mild earthquake,’ says Marcelo Moncayo, author and researcher on the Guayaquil-Caracas fault thesis | Ecuador | news

Marcelo Moncayo was giving a virtual class to a group of students on Thursday afternoon. In it, he commented on the earthquake that occurred in Venezuela that day and the possibility of a similar incident occurring in that country.

Meanwhile, Guayaquil was not shaken by the strong earthquake that was felt in 151 zones of the country around 5:30 pm.

“According to my studies, according to my results, there is a close relationship between earthquakes between Ecuador and Venezuela, so there will be one here in the next few hours,” he told his students. An hour before the earthquake in Guayas.

Images of damage captured after surveys in Guayaquil due to severe earthquake

Moncayo, a university professor and earthquake researcher, has studied in recent years the link between earthquakes in Ecuador and earthquakes along the Guayaquil-Caracas fault in Venezuela.

He relates this hypothesis to trends observed in recent years on this fault, where tremors were felt in Venezuela and had an impact on Ecuador.

The expert gives an example Earthquakes recorded in Venezuela in 2017 and 2018 occurred on the same day or later in parts of Ecuador.

A similar one occurred on Thursday afternoon, as several states in Venezuela were hit by an earthquake.

The Geophysical Institute said that the earthquake was felt at 5.30 pm yesterday. A 6.10 magnitude quake was centered northwest of La Aurora at a depth of 57.50 km in the Doule area.

According to Moncayo, what happened yesterday has something to do with this Guayaquil-Caracas fault, because when large earthquakes occur in Venezuela, they are likely to be reflected in Ecuador. “We’re connected to the Caribbean plate,” he says.

According to the expert, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela emit energy differently from other countries.

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Moncayo says there is a criterion for thinking that all earthquakes in Ecuador are centered on a subduction zone, and the country has several scenarios that affect it, one of which is the mega-fault system that originates in Guayaquil. .

“It goes through Guayaquil, stretches through the Sierra, more or less follows the line of the mountain range, goes to Colombia and reaches Venezuela, I call it Guayaquil-Caracas,” he insists.

The author reports that seismic hazard in Guayaquil is at level 6 below the city and that there is a relationship between the earthquakes in Venezuela and Ecuador due to the fault structure.

Tremors or earthquakes?

Moncayo believes yesterday’s quake could be considered a “mild, low-magnitude earthquake.” “Yesterday this earthquake was different, it was more intense and stronger than the one felt in Guayaquil, which usually oscillates,” he says.

Concerned about the intensity of the movement, Moncayo says the wave, the sound, was felt because of its proximity to Guayaquil. He was on the sixth floor of a building.

The expert says that it is necessary to make tours Evaluate structures and look for other methods with faster damage stats. (yo)