Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades has killed more than a thousand people, authorities said, as emergency services scramble to reach small villages near the mountains where victims are still feared trapped.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck a mountainous area 45 miles (72 kilometers) southwest of Marrakech on Friday, the US Geological Survey said.
With strong tremors also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira, the earthquake caused widespread damage and sent terrified residents and tourists seeking refuge in the middle of the night.
“I was almost asleep when I heard the doors and shutters slamming,” said Ghannou Najem, a Casablanca resident in his 80s who was visiting Marrakech when the earthquake struck. “I went out into the street in a panic. I thought I was going to die alone,” she continued.
In the mountain village of Moulay Brahim, near the quake’s epicenter, rescue teams searched for survivors in the rubble of collapsed houses, while residents began digging graves for the dead on a nearby hill, AFP correspondents reported.
The army set up a field hospital in the village and mobilized “significant human and logistical resources” to support the rescue operation, state news agency MAP reported.
This was the strongest earthquake ever to hit North Africa and, according to one expert, it was the “largest to hit the region in more than 120 years”.
“In places where devastating earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not built robustly enough… causing many to collapse, causing many casualties,” said Bill McGuire, a professor at University College London in Britain.
Updated Interior Ministry data on Saturday showed the earthquake killed at least 1,037 people, the vast majority in the provinces of Al-Haouz, the epicenter, and Taroudant.
Another 1,204 people were injured, including 721 in critical condition, the ministry said.
Hicham Choukri, who is leading relief operations, told reporters that the earthquake’s epicenter and strength created “an exceptional emergency.”
“Unbearable” screams
Engineer Faisal Badour confesses that he felt the earthquake three times in his building in Marrakech.
“There are families who are still sleeping on the streets because we were very afraid of the force of this earthquake,” he said. “The screams and cries were unbearable.”
Frenchman Michael Bizet, 43, owner of three traditional houses in Marrakech’s old city, told AFP he was in bed when the earthquake struck. “I thought my bed was going to fly. I went out into the street half-naked and immediately went to see my riads. It was total chaos, a real catastrophe, madness,” he said.
An AFP correspondent saw hundreds of people flocking to the square to spend the night, fearful of the aftershocks, some carrying blankets while others slept on the floor.
Mimi Theobold, 25, a tourist from England, said she was with friends on the terrace of a restaurant when the tables started shaking and plates flew over.
Houda Outassaf, a local resident, said she was “still in shock” after feeling the earth shake under her feet – and losing family members: “I have at least ten members of my family who have died… I can hardly believe it. for I was with them but two days ago.”
The Interior Ministry stated that authorities have “mobilized all necessary resources to intervene and assist the affected areas.”
The regional blood transfusion center in Marrakesh in turn called on the population to donate blood for the injured.
Outside help
The USGS PAGER system, which provides preliminary assessments of the impact of earthquakes, has issued a “red alert” for economic losses and says significant damage is likely.
Foreign leaders expressed condolences and many offered assistance, including Israel, with which Morocco normalized relations in 2020.
Algeria announced it is lifting a two-year ban on all Moroccan flights through its airspace to allow the delivery of aid and medical evacuations.
US President Joe Biden said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation.”
China’s President Xi Jinping expressed his “deep regret for the victims” and hoped that “the Moroccan government and people will be able to overcome the consequences of this catastrophe.”
Pope Francis expressed “his deep solidarity with those who have been touched in the flesh and in the heart by this tragedy.”
In 2004, at least 628 people died and 926 were injured when an earthquake struck Al Hoceima in northeastern Morocco, and in 1960 a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Agadir killed more than 12,000 people.
The magnitude 7.3 El Asnam earthquake in Algeria in 1980 killed 2,500 people and left at least 300,000 homeless.
Source: DN
