At least 413 people have been killed in Ecuador's biggest earthquake in decades as a 7.8 magnitude quake struck off the Pacific coast on Saturday and was felt around the Andean nation of 16 million people, causing panic as far away as the highland capital Quito.

Vice President Jorge Glas said as well as leaving hundreds dead, more than 2,500 people were injured.

The latest quake follows devastating tremors in Japan late last week when one, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, injured more than 1,000 trapping people in collapsed buildings only a day after a quake killed nine people in the same region.

Rescue crews searched for survivors of a magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck Japan's Kyushu Island, the same region rattled by a 6.2 quake two days earlier.

Around 20,000 troops have had to be deployed following the latest 7.3 earthquake at 1.25am local time on Saturday. 

Roads have also been damaged and big landslides have been reported, there are also 200,000 households without power. The death toll in the latest Kyushu earthquake is 16 people and a previous earthquake that struck the area on Thursday had killed nine people. 

There have been other large earthquakes recorded in recent days, including a major one in southern Japan which destroyed buildings and left at least 45 people injured, after Myanmar was rocked on Wednesday.

Tremors were also felt as far as 500 miles away at the national park in India.

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 7,262 people have sought shelter at 375 centers since Friday in Kumamoto Prefecture. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to do everything he could to save lives following the disaster.

He said:

"Nothing is more important than human life and it's a race against time."

On Thursday, the Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital confirmed 45 were injured, including five with serious injuries after a quake of magnitude 6.2 to 6.5 and a series of strong aftershocks ripped through Kumamoto city.

Several buildings were damaged or destroyed and at least six people are believed to be trapped under homes in Mashiki.

Local reports said one woman was rescued in a critical condition 

Scientists say there has been an above average number of significant earthquakes across south Asia and the Pacific since the start of the year.

The increased frequency has sparked fears of a repeat of the Nepal quake of 2015, where 8,000 people died, or even worse. Tonga suffered a 6.1 magnitude tremor.

Thursday's quake in Japan was followed by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake which struck off the coast of the southern Philippines. The earthquake happened at 2.20am (Singapore time) off Mindanao island.

Local authorities said there was no tsunami risk and that they had not received reports of casualties or damage.

In Japan, a number of buildings were destroyed by the powerful 6.4 magnitude quake. Japan's Meteorological Agency said the epicenter was in the Mashiki town in the Kumamoto prefecture. 

Officials said the region's nuclear facilities were not affected.

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake also hit on Friday off the coast of the Pacific island of Vanuatu, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

It was 53 miles from town Port Orly and the fourth one this week in the immediate area, after a 6.4-strength tremor hit a week earlier. 

Vanuatu is on the "Pacific Ring of Fire," one of the most seismic parts of the globe and known for its earthquakes and volcanoes.

Seismologists say the Himalayan region is overdue for a tremor stronger than Nepal's 7.9 strength quake last year. Friday's quakes take the total to nine across Asia in a period of just over three and a half months - nearly three every month.

Tectonic plates west of the Nepal earthquake are still locked and scientists fear this is another trigger waiting to go off.

A scientific study (Lower Edge of Locked Main Himalayan Thrust Unzipped by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake) published in Nature Geoscience said the Nepal quake,

"failed to rupture the locked portions of the Himalayan thrust beneath and west of the Kathmandu basin because of some persistent barrier of mechanical and structural origin."

Stresses locked in this area could be released, potentially causing a massive quake.

BK Rastogi, director general of the Ahmedabad-based Institute of Seismological Research, said:

"An earthquake of the same magnitude is overdue. That may happen either today or 50 years from now in the region of the Kashmir, Himachal, Punjab and Uttrakhand Himalayas.

 

"Seismic gaps have been identified in these regions. 

 

"The accumulation of stress is going on everywhere. But where it will reach the elastic limit, we don't know nor also when. But what we do know is that it is happening everywhere." 

Correction

This article was amended on 22 April 2016.  

The article originally contained a quote attributed to Dr Roger Bilham that in regards to the Manipur earthquake of 04 January 2016 he stated,

"The current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude. And if they delay, the strain accumulated during the centuries provokes more catastrophic mega earthquakes."  

This quote was sourced from an article published by the Times of India on 06 January 2016 and headlined 'Big earthquake coming, warn MHA experts'. In fact Dr Bilham states that he never gave that quote to the Times of India.

We are happy to set the record straight.