QUITO (AFP) - A 4.6-magnitude earthquake late Monday (Aug 8) caused light damage to buildings on the outskirts of the Ecuadoran capital Quito, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said.

Seismologists said the quake, which struck shortly before midnight, was centered about 10km north-east of Quito and had a depth of some 5km.

"At present, minor damage has been reported to some homes" outside Quito, the city's mayor Mauricio Rodas said in a tweet, adding that some neighborhoods also reported power outages.

The South American nation is still recovering from a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake that killed 673 people in April and left some 6,000 injured.