Victims of the 1949 Ambato earthquake
The 1949 Ambato earthquake was the largest earthquake in the Western Hemisphere in more than five years. On August 5, 1949, it struck Ecuador's Tungurahua Province southeast of its capital Ambato and killed 5,050 people. Measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale it originated from a hypocenter 40 km (25 mi) beneath the surface.