A team of 56 Spanish soldiers today began helping rescue operations in villages near Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, which were hit by an earthquake on Friday. They admit it will be difficult to find those buried alive.
Members of the Military Emergency Unit, who were also involved in the 2017 fires in Pedrógão, took five trucks full of rescue equipment to stabilize buildings, and four dogs, Alberto Vasquez, responsible for communications, told Lusa.
The fact that most houses are made of adobe makes it difficult to find people alive.
“If they are concrete houses, so-called ‘life holes’ are created. In this case, the houses crumble like a sand castle. But there can be hope.”Vasquez said.
“One of the most dramatic situations is that when houses collapse, they give the feeling that there are no ‘windows of life'”said Commander Enrique Bascuas, noting that the army has “tools to respond to all types of catastrophes.”
When asked if it would be difficult to find survivors under the rubble, the commander admitted that this would be the case.
“From my experience it will be difficult to find people alive, but in the end there is hope”he noted.
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 under the rubble.”said Bascuas, who said he was waiting for information from local authorities on the matter.
“Movements are difficult here and if they don’t give us an idea of where people might be under the rubble, then it’s very complex”he said, adding that the Moroccan Civil Protection is the one that “has the picture of the emergency, of the possible scenarios”.
The army set up a camp at the entrance to the city of Amizmiz, about 50 kilometers south of Marrakesh, and one of the worst hit by Friday evening’s earthquake, which left more than 2,000 dead and more than 2,000 injured.
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 Marrakech. .
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.8.
Source: DN
