TAFEGHAGHTE: Morocco’s lethal earthquake in decades has killed over 2,000 people, officials said Saturday, as forces and emergency services scrambled to reach far-flung mountain villages and areas where victims of the quake are still feared stranded.
Officials declared a 3-day national mourning, but the Red Cross warned that it could take several years to repair the harm and damages.
The 6.8-magnitude powerful earthquake hit late Friday in a mountainous region 72 kilometres Southwest of Marrakesh city, the US Geological Survey stated.
Notable quake, preliminary info: M 6.8 – 56 km W of Oukaïmedene, Morocco https://t.co/X8RNuHZ6hH
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) September 8, 2023
With strong shocks also felt in Rabat, Essaouira and Casablanca, the earthquake caused huge damage and sent terrified people and tourists scrambling to safety in the late night.
“I was almost asleep when I heard the shutters and doors banging,” said Ghannou Najem, a Casablanca local who was visiting the city of Marrakesh when the earthquake struck. She said that she went outside in a panic and thought he was going to die.
Morocco Announces National Mourning following Deadly Earthquake
In the mountain areas of Tafeghaghte close to the earthquake’s epicentre, virtually no house or compounds were left standing.
In the late noon, troops continued to search via wreckage, but most survivors headed to the graveyard, where loud cries punctuated the last rituals as some 70 people were laid to rest.
Villager Omar Benhanna told AFP that three of his grandchildren and their mother were killed in the powerful quake in the area.
The last night earthquake was the strongest-ever quake to hit the African country, and one expert termed it as the region’s “biggest quake in last 120 years”.
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Interior ministry said on Saturday that earthquake killed as many as 1,305 people, the vast majority in Al-Haouz area, the epicentre, and Taroudant provinces of the country. The authorities said that more than 1,832 people were wounded, including 1,220 in a very critical condition.
After an emergency meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI, he announced 3-day national mourning, with flags to fly at half-mast on all buildings in the country.
The earthquake has also drawn condolences and offers of assistance from foreign leaders, including US President Joe Biden, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and Pope Francis, among others.
Morocco often experiences quakes in its northern areas because of its position between the Eurasian and African plates. In 2004, as many as 628 people were killed and 926 wounded when an earthquake struck Al Hoceima in northeastern Morocco.
The 1980 7.3-magnitude El Asnam quake in Algeria was one of the most destructive natural disaster in recent history in the region. The quake killed over 2,500 people and also left as many as 300,000 homeless.
