The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 8.8 and triggered a destructive tsunami that caused at least 500 casualties on the coast of Colombia.

The coastal parts of Ecuador and Colombia have a history of strong megathrust earthquakes originating from this Malpelo-North Andes plate boundary.

The greatest damage from the tsunami occurred on the coast between Río Verde, Ecuador and Micay, Colombia.

The lack of overlap between the three more recent events suggest the presence of minor barriers to rupture propagation along the plate boundary.

Gómez Tapias, Jorge; Montes Ramírez, Nohora E.; Almanza Meléndez, María F.; Alcárcel Gutiérrez, Fernando A.; Madrid Montoya, César A.; Diederix, Hans (2015).