77 killed as 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits Ecuador

At least 77 people were killed and hundreds injured as Ecuador's Pacific coast witnessed a 7.8-magnitude tremor today.

Declaring a national emergency, President Rafael Correa urged the country's 16 million people to stay calm.

More than 570 people are believed to have been injured in the quake.

"Our infinite love to the families of the dead," he said on Twitter, while cutting short a trip to Italy to return home, reports the Guardian.

The government has asked the citizens to leave coastal areas following concerns of rising tide after the quake and also said the death toll would likely rise as the damage was serious, especially in the western coastal areas nearest the quake and in Guayaquil.

Vice-President Jorge Glas has said that it was the strongest quake to hit Ecuador since 1979, adding that 16 people had died in the city of Poroviejo, 10 in Manta and others in the province of Guayas.

Meanwhile, the country's Geophysics Institute in a bulletin described "considerable damage" in the area of the epicentre and in Guayaquil. No further details have been provided.

After the quake, at least 36 aftershocks have followed, one as strong as six on the Richter scale.

The quake resulted in damage to some buildings and many areas have lost power.

The residents have been warned about further aftershocks in the coming hours.

According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to one metre (one to three feet) above tide level were possible for some coastal areas of Ecuador.

Following the quake, neighbouring Peru has issued a tsunami alert for the north of the country.

Earlier on Saturday, across the pacific in Japan, a 7.3-magnitude tremor struck Kumamoto province killing at least 32 people and injuring thousands.