A team of 56 Spanish soldiers began this Monday to help in rescue operations in towns near the Atlas Mountains, in Morocco, affected by an earthquake on Friday, where they admit that it will be difficult to find those buried alive.
Members of the Military Emergency Unit, which also participated in the Pedrógão fires in 2017, took five trucks loaded with rescue and building stabilization material, and four dogs, Alberto Vásquez, head of communications, told Lusa.
The fact that most houses are made of adobe (a mixture of earth, sand and water) makes it difficult to find living people.
“When they are concrete houses, what we call ‘life holes’ form. In this case, the houses crumble like a sand castle. But there may be hope,” said Vásquez.
“One of the most dramatic situations is that when houses collapse they give the impression that there are no ‘windows of life,'” said Commander Enrique Bascuas, pointing out that the military has “tools to work in all types of catastrophes.”
When asked if it would be difficult to find survivors under the rubble, the commander admitted that it would.
“From my experience, it will be difficult to find people alive, but until the end there is hope,” he said.
The commander recalled that in the earthquake in Turkey “people were removed many days later.”
“Right now there is hope, but we need a clue from someone who is under the rubble,” said Bascuas, who said he was waiting for information from local authorities on the matter.
“Movements here are difficult and, if they don’t give us clues about where there may be people under the rubble, then it is very complex,” he said, adding that Moroccan Civil Protection is the one that has “a photograph of the emergency, of possible scenarios.” .
The military set up a camp at the entrance to the town of Amizmiz, about 50 kilometers south of Marrakech, and one of the most affected by the earthquake on Friday night, which caused more than two thousand deaths and more than two thousand wounded.
The earthquake, whose epicenter was recorded in the town of Ighil, 63 kilometers southwest of the city of Marrakech, was felt in Portugal and Spain and reached a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale, according to the National Institute of Geophysics of Morocco.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.8.
Source: TSF
