Ecuador lies above the destructive plate boundary where the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American Plate . The convergence rate between the plates in Ecuador is per year . The depth , location and focal mechanism of the earthquake are all consistent with rupture along the plate interface in the form of a megathrust earthquake . A major earthquake in 1906 ruptured the plate interface for at least 400 km immediately northeast of the 2016 event
A major earthquake in 1906
1906 Ecuador–Colombia earthquake
2016 Ecuador earthquake