Ecaudor is known as the land of fire and ice because of it’s high mountain peaks, from Chimborazo at 6310m, to Reventador at 3562 with a range of others in between ( List of mountains in Ecuador ) plus an abundance of volcanoes. Mount Tungurahua erupted in 1999 and entered an active phase that has continued up to April 2014. In October 1999 more than 25,000 inhabitants from Baños and the surrounding area were evacuated. The government refused to let residents back in as it was deemed unsafe but they dealt with the problem by fighting their way back in, allegedly using farming implements as weapons and that was the end of that. Since then there have been a number of large eruptions, and evacuations, the last in 2014.
As well as volcanoes Ecuador gets its share of Earthquakes and Tsunamis. In April 16 a large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 centered on the towns of Muisne and Pedernales in a sparsely populated part of the country. The regions of Manta,
Pedernales and Porto Viejo accounted for over 75 percent of total casualties although the shocks were felt as far away as Quito. At least 676 people were killed and 16,600 people injured. During our stay in Canoa and then on the drive here to Puerto Cayo you can still see the remains of the damage. Parts of roads simply disappear where repair work has been not been completed, there are half fallen houses and lots of single story 2 room concrete block houses which could be built quickly to rehouse those whose homes had been detroyed. There are signs everywhere pointing to evacuation routes in the event of a re-occurrence.
This is the Canoa Beach Hotel just after the quake and now.
Even further down the coast here at Puerto Cayo there are quake damaged buildings just left as they were, abandoned with windows missing and roofs half collapsed.
There’s still a lot that hasn’t been rebuilt, we stopped over in the main city of Porto Viejo and had dinner in a makeshift restaurant (good tho) made from some kind of shipping container. It also makes it interesting trying to locate places as they often just don’t exist anymore despite what google maps would have you believe.
Pirate Travels 