Quake kills 262 along devastated Ecuador coast

Refinery shut, Galapagos unscrathed

The government called it the worst quake in the country since 1979. In that disaster, 600 people were killed and 20,000 injured, according to the US Geological Survey.

In international aid, Venezuela, Chile and Mexico were sending personnel and supplies, the left-leaning Correa government said. The Ecuadorean Red Cross mobilized more than 800 volunteers and staff and medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was sending a team from Colombia.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that two Canadians were among the dead and that the "scope of the devastation in Ecuador is shocking."

The US State Department said in an email that it was working to confirm reports of Americans injured in the quake, although it had no reports of any US citizens killed.

US Secretary of State John Kerry offered assistance.

Although tsunami warnings were lifted, coastal residents were still urged to seek higher ground in case tides rise.

The government said oil production was not affected but closed its main refinery of Esmeraldas, located near the epicenter, as a precaution. It was likely to restart soon.

Residents on the Galapagos islands far off Ecuador's coast, home to numerous rare species, said they had not been affected by the quake.

The Ecuadorean quake followed two large and deadly quakes that struck Japan since Thursday. Both countries are located on the seismically active "Ring of Fire" that circles the Pacific, but according to the US Geological Survey large quakes separated by such distances would probably not be related.