A magnitude 6.3 earthquake has struck near the coast of Ecuador, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

The quake was at a depth of 23km (14.29 miles), EMSC said.

Images shared online show buildings visibly damaged in the earthquake. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Past earthquakes

Ecuador has a long and painful history of seismic disasters.

In 2013, a quake that rattled northern Peru and southern Ecuador left at least 14 people dead and destroyed homes, schools and health clinics.

Three years later, in 2016, a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake – Ecuador’s strongest since 1979 – killed at least 77 people and injured more than 500 others.

The country lies along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, a volatile zone of seismic and volcanic activity encircling the ocean.

Ecuador straddles the boundary where the Nazca and South American tectonic plates meet – two massive sections of the Earth’s crust that grind against each other, moving at an average rate of about 65 millimetres (2.5 inches) per year.

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