The April 16 2016 Mw7.8 Muisne Earthquake in Ecuador – Preliminary Observations from the EEFIT Reconnaissance Mission of May 24 - June 7

On April 16 2016 an Mw7.8 earthquake with epicentre 29km south-southeast of Muisne in northern Manabi caused around 700 fatalities, injured 30,000 and destroyed several sections of the towns of Pedernales, Portoviejo, Canoa, Bahia de Caraquez and Manta, most of them important centres of tourism on the coast of Ecuador. During May 24-June 7 a team was deployed by the Earthquake EngineeringField Investigation Team (EEFIT) with the objective of surveying the damage and recording observations that would help the scientific and professional communityunderstand the event and its consequences. The team, all co-authors of this paper, investigated structural damage patterns, surveyed 1,332 buildings, validated landslide data obtained from satellite imageryfor 30 sites, and interviewed 120 families at 3 shelters. The damage observed in low- and mid-rise buildings seems to correlate well with the spectral response measured in Manta, Portoviejo, and Pedernales. Satellite-based landslide identification proved effective in an 80-90% of the cases investigated. The immediate unemployment spike, based on our limited survey, seemed to reach about 50% in the affected population.