On April 16, 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake (Richter scale) struck off the coast of northern Ecuador at 6:58 pm local time. The Ecuadorian government declared a state of emergency with a red alert in six provinces: Manabí, Esmeraldas, Santo Domingo, Los Ríos, Santa Elena and Guayas. The area of Pedernales (Manabí province) was declared a disaster zone.
The operation earthquake in Ecuador in 2016 included activities for strengthening Ecuadorian Red Cross Capacity Building, and also for the affected communities, which were prepared and sufficiently resilient, in coordination with local authorities, to respond to future earthquakes and other disasters. During the emergency phase, ERC volunteers were trained in the use of ODK and Mega V for the data collection required for humanitarian distributions.