Quito.- Ecuador will send to Colombia a specialized team of 35 rescuers, nearly five tons of equipment, and a group of engineers to support the areas affected by the 7.4 magnitude earthquake recorded in the country on Monday, reported this Thursday the president of the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) and Minister of Infrastructure and Technology, Roberto Luque.
The contingent, belonging to the Guayaquil Fire Department, will have operational autonomy for seven days and was deployed in response to requests made by the Colombian Government through the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry.
A team of specialists in structures, seismic engineering, and geotechnics will join the rescuers, who will support the damage assessment and the classification of buildings as habitable or uninhabitable in the areas determined by the Colombian authorities.
Luque also expressed Ecuador’s solidarity with Colombia and Venezuela for the human and material losses caused by the recent seismic events.
Furthermore, he called on Ecuadorians to remain calm and ruled out that the succession of earthquakes that occurred first in Venezuela and subsequently in Colombia implies that a major earthquake is going to occur in Ecuador.
More Read
You can also read: Magnitude 4 earthquake recorded in Ecuador province
“I want to convey calm to the public. The sequence of earthquakes recorded first in Venezuela and subsequently in Colombia does not mean that, as a consequence of these events, an earthquake is expected in Ecuador,” stated Luque during a press conference in the coastal province of Guayas.
However, he recalled that Ecuador maintains a permanent seismic risk and called for strengthening prevention and preparedness measures and avoiding the dissemination of unverified information.
For its part, and as part of the humanitarian response, the National Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR) has enabled two collection centers since this Wednesday, located in the provinces of Pichincha and Guayas, to receive donations for the affected families, including items for temporary shelter, water, and personal grooming and hygiene utensils personal.
According to the latest count, the earthquake in Colombia now totals 273 dead, 3,824 injured, and 377 missing.
