The mudslide happened overnight Sunday into Monday, burying dozens of homes and injuring 23 people in the village of Alausi in Chimborazo province, some 300 kilometers south of Quito, officials said.
Alausi, a village of some 45,000 people surrounded by green hills, also saw several public buildings hit by the avalanche, which damaged roads and closed three schools. "We have activated temporary accommodation and mobilized sleeping kits for those that have lost their homes," said a government statement on Twitter.Since the start of the year, heavy rains in Ecuador have caused the deaths of 22 people, destroyed 72 homes and damaged more than 6,900 residences, according to the SNGR risk management secretariat.The area affected by Sunday's disaster had been in a designated yellow alert risk zone since February following other landslides.