"Petroecuador has suspended its oil exports and fuel imports for reasons of force majeure, and communicated its decision to companies with which it does business," Petroecuador president Marco Calvopina said in a statement.

"The measure was taken to protect ships and maritime terminals," he said.

President Rafael Correa earlier Friday declared a state of emergency in response to a tsunami that was forecast to strike the Pacific coast of the Americas from the United States to the southern tip of South America.

But in a nationally televised press conference, the Ecuadoran president later appealed for calm, saying the impact was not expected to be as great as initially feared.

"We make an appeal for calm," he said. "In the beginning there was great uncertainty. Now I would say the greatest likelihood is that a sea surge will be the only effect of this terrible earthquake in Japan."

The first waves of the tsunami were expected to reach the Galapagos archipelago at around 5:30 pm (2230 GMT) and Ecuador's Pacific coast two hours later, according to the Ecuadoran navy's oceanographic institute.

Inhabitants nevertheless began evacuating towns along the coast after Correa ordered the movement of some 300,000 people to higher ground.

On the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos chain, residents were cooperating with authorities and leaving low lying areas, said police Lieutenant Paulina Espina said.

And in coastal villages on the mainland, people were seen hiking down highways with suitcases, trying to catch buses inland, witnesses said.

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