Starting on the day after the mainshock, we mapped in the field and compiled all the available observations on earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) caused by the $Mw$ 7.8 subduction earthquake that hit the coastal region of Ecuador on 16 April 2016 (the Pedernales earthquake). These effects include: (a) permanent ground deformation, (b) open cracks, (c) liquefaction, (d) landslides, and (e) tsunami waves. We use these observations to evaluate the macroseismic field of the Environmental Seismic Intensity (ESI‐07) scale and compare our results with published macroseismic data collected using traditional damage‐based intensity scales. We found systematic difference in the assessed earthquake intensity and in the intensity attenuation with distance. A comparison of our dataset with the macroseismic data of six instrumental large‐subduction earthquakes that occurred between Ecuador and Chile suggests that, for the Pedernales earthquake, the ESI‐07 works better in the near field, whereas damage‐based scales are more reliable in the far field. Therefore, we generate a single integrated intensity dataset for the Pedernales earthquake, including data measured with the European Macroseismic Scale 1998 (EMS‐98), the modified Mercalli (MM) scale, and the ESI‐07 scale. This new integrated macroseismic field provides reliable and comparable information on the seismogenic source, suggesting that a similar approach could be successfully applied to refine the source model of past subduction earthquakes in Ecuador and elsewhere.

Dam B1 was approximately 85 m high and 700 m long along the crown when it suddenly failed in 25th of January, after 41 years of operations and deposition of tailings at the Paraopeba mining complex (Côrrego de Feijão), in Minas Gerais, Brazil. More than 250 people died and vast economic, social and environmental damages resulted from the collapse. Given the need to geotechnically characterise the tailings within the dam for a credible computational model of the failure, an extensive sampling and laboratory testing campaign took place. The geotechnical laboratory of the Civil Engineering Department at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (Portugal) was invited by CIMNE, under a contract with VALE, with MPF agreement, to conduct this program. This paper will present a description of the sampling campaigns in the remaining post-mortem dam/reservoir tailings were the failure instability mechanics developed and the experimental program undertaken to test the tailings in advanced laboratory tests. The results that embrace evaluations of the physical, hydraulic and mechanical properties, deduced from integral samples selectively collected and prepared as described, which allowed to define the geotechnical parameters necessary for the referred analyses are here resumed.

The Santa Elena Peninsula has experienced local subduction earthquakes in 1901 (7.7 Mw) and 1933 (6.9 Mw), during which local ground conditions, including deposits of longshore-current sediments, paleo-lagoon or marsh, sandspit, and ancient tidal channel sediments, exhibited various coseismic deformation behaviors in Quaternary soils of inferior geotechnical quality. This study shows that geophysical profiles from seismic refraction and shear-wave velocities are correlated with stratigraphic data from sedimentary sequences obtained from slope cutting and geotechnical drilling. This database is used to create a comprehensive map to describe the lithological units of Salinas’ urban geology. The thickness of the Tertiary–Quaternary sedimentary sequences and the depth to the bedrock of the Piñon and Cayo geological formations determine the periods of sites in these stratigraphic sequences, which range from 0.3 to 1.5 s. This study provides the first geotechnical zoning map for the city of Salinas at a scale of 1:25,000, which is a technical requirement of the Ecuadorian construction standard. This geotechnical zoning information is essential for appropriate land management in Salinas and its neighboring cities, La Libertad and Santa Elena, as well as for outlining municipal restrictions on future construction.