Video shows the effects of Ecuador’s heaviest flooding 20 years.
Landslide sweep away cars and homes, water and rocks pouring in through doors and windows as they destroy everything in their path
An oil pipeline rupture caused damage to Ecuador’s Cayambe-Coca National Park nature reserve (story below)
The following written content from Guardian
A rain-weakened hillside collapsed in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, sweeping over homes and a sports field and killing at least 22 people, city officials have said.
The Quito Security Department also said on Tuesday that 32 people were injured and eight houses had collapsed, with more damaged.
Neighbours joined rescue workers in hunting through the ruins for survivors of the disaster that hit after nearly 24 hours of rainfall.
The storm was pounding outside when Imelda Pacheco said she felt her house move as if an earthquake had struck. Suddenly water and rocks began to pour in through doors and windows and she fled before the building was destroyed.
“I barely had time to grab the hand of my four-year-old son and I ran to the stairs, to the terrace. Suddenly the walls in front and to the side disappeared,” she told the Associated Press.
“We shouted to the neighbours on the first floor, but the water carried away the mother and daughter,” she said, standing before the ruins of her home.
“I thought I was going to die with my son. I hugged him strongly and we shook, I think from the cold and the fear … We barely survived,” she added.
Waves of mud, some three metres (10ft) high, carried away vehicles, motorcycles, rubbish bins and other debris in the neighbourhoods of La Gasca and La Comuna below the slopes of the Ruco Pinchincha mountain.
As the rescue began, police called for silence so the cries of those trapped could be heard.
Quito mayor Santiago Guarderas said the intense rains had saturated the soils, setting off the landslide.
Smaller waves of muddy water continued pouring down on Tuesday morning past residents trying to shift stones, tree trunks and debris. An overturned taxi and other vehicles were partly buried in mud on a sports field.
“I’ve lost everything. I don’t have anything. Everything is over,” said 65-year-old Laura Quiñónez, who stood beside an ambulance. Read more from Guardian
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Oil pipeline rupture causes damage to approximately five acres of Ecuador’s Cayambe-Coca National Park nature reserve
The following written content from DW
An oil spill in eastern Ecuador has affected part of a nature reserve in the Amazon rainforest and polluted a major river, the government said Monday.
Ecuador’s Environmental Ministry said nearly two hectares (five acres) of a nature reserve in the Cayambe-Coca National Park were impacted by the spill, which took place along with the Coca River.
The ministry characterized the spill as a “major” pollution event.
The spill poses a threat to flora and fauna in the area. Cayambe-Coca is home to several species of threatened animals, such as the military macaw and the Andean condor.
“Our staff are monitoring 210 kilometers (130 miles) of the Coca River and its tributaries and coordinating containment and remediation where traces of hydrocarbon are identified,” the ministry added.
The government has dispatched emergency personnel to ensure safe water for the local population.
What caused the oil spill?
A mudslide on Friday amid heavy rains in the eastern Napo province caused a crude oil pipeline to burst, triggering the spill. The pipeline is owned by the private firm OCP Ecuador, with the company saying it halted pumping oil the following day.
Oil spill in Ecuador’s Amazon endangers Indigenous water supply
OCP Ecuador said Monday it contained the “majority of the oil that flowed from the pipeline.”
“However, we are aware small traces have reached bodies of water, and we are working on it,” the company’s president, Jorge Vugdelija, said in a statement.
The Ecuadorian government, however, has threatened OCP Ecuador with legal consequences for the spill. OCP Ecuador has vowed clean water and aid for affected communities.
A similar oil spill caused by pipeline ruptures occurred in the Ecuadorian Amazon in April 2020. The pollution devastated local indigenous groups who rely on the Coca River for their water needs.
Ecuador is the latest Latin American country to be hit with an oil spill, after nearly 12,000 barrels of crude were dumped off the Peruvian coast on January 15. The spill happened during rough seas in the aftermath of a major volcanic eruption and resulting tsunami near Tonga across the Pacific Ocean. Read more from DW
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