http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/02/01/quake.ecuador.reut/index.html

Ecuador trembles after hundreds of tremors

Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Posted: 1943 GMT (0343 HKT)
	

QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) -- Hundreds of tremors off the coast of Ecuador in
the past 11 days have sparked fears that a bigger quake could strike soon.

"This isn't normal," the director of Geophysics Institute at the National
Polytechnic School, Hugo Yepez, told Reuters on Monday, "This area is
capable of producing big earthquakes. Very big earthquakes."

About 320 tremors of more than 4.0 on the Richter scale have shaken the
Pacific Ocean off the port of Manta since January 20.

So far no one has been reported hurt but some small fishing villages have
seen damages. An earthquake measured at 7.9 on the Richter scale battered
the Pacific city of Guayaquil in 1942, although fragmentary reports from
the time did not mention casualties.

The shape of Ecuador's coastline would prevent the formation of a tsunami
like the one which smashed into parts of Asia in December, experts say.

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