MARRAKESH, Morocco (AP) — Rare and powerful Earthquake that hit MoroccoPeople jump out of their beds onto the roads, collapsing buildings in mountain villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such forces. More than 2,000 people have been killed, and the death toll was expected to rise further on Saturday as rescuers struggled to reach hard-hit remote areas.
Earthquake of magnitude 6.8, biggest hit People fled their homes late Friday in fear and disbelief in the North African country, which was the first country to do so in 120 years. One man said people were knocked off their feet by rain of dishes and wall hangings. The earthquake caused the stone and masonry walls to collapse, leaving the entire village covered in rubble.
The devastation similarly struck towns along the steep, winding switchbacks of the High Atlas Mountains. Houses huddled together, mothers and fathers crying as boys and helmeted police carried away the dead.
Drought-stricken remote villages like Walugan Valley have been left almost cut off from the rest of the world, with no electricity and mobile phone service. By noon, people were outside mourning their neighbors, surveying the damage with camera phones and saying to each other, “May God save us.”
Hamid Idsara, a 72-year-old mountain guide, said he and many others are still alive but have little hope for the future. That was true in the short term, with the remains of his kitchen reduced to dust, and in the long term, when he and many others lacked the financial means to get back on their feet.
“I can't rebuild my house. I don't know what to do. But I'm alive, so I'll wait,” she says as she walks through the town, a desert oasis overlooking red rock hills, herds of goats and sparkling salt lakes. He said. “My heart hurts.”
In historic Marrakech, state television showed people crowding the streets, still afraid to return to unstable buildings. The city's famous Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, suffered damage, but the extent of the damage was not immediately clear. The 69-meter (226-foot) high minaret is known as the “Roof of Marrakech.” Moroccans also posted videos showing damage to parts of the famous red walls surrounding the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Morocco's interior ministry said Saturday night that the quake killed at least 2,012 people, most of them in Marrakech and five provinces near the epicenter. At least 2,059 more people were injured, 1,404 of them in critical condition, the ministry said.
“Where is the problem? destructive earthquake Bill McGuire, emeritus professor of geophysics and climate hazards at University College London, said: “Many buildings collapse simply because they are not built strongly enough to cope with strong ground shaking. There have been many casualties,” he said.
In a sign of the scale of the disaster, Morocco's King Mohammed VI ordered the military to mobilize specialized search and rescue teams and field hospitals, a military statement said.
The king said he would visit the worst-hit areas on Saturday, but despite an influx of offers of help from around the world, the Moroccan government has not formally requested assistance and outside rescue teams This was a necessary measure before being dispatched.
The epicenter of Friday's quake was near the town of Igil in Al Hauz governorate, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech. Al Hauz is known for its beautiful villages and valleys surrounded by the High Atlas Mountains.
Those fleeing in police, emergency vehicles and shared taxis spent hours traveling in stop-and-go traffic on dirt roads in the High Atlas Mountains, known to be steep and difficult long before Friday's quake. We often had to get out of the car to remove huge rocks from the route. In the village of Ijukaku, in the area around Toubkal, North Africa's highest mountain, residents estimate that nearly 200 buildings have been destroyed.
Couch cushions, electrical cords and grapes were scattered in a huge pile of rubble, along with dead sheep, houseplants and a door wedged between rocks. Relatives in the town and people who had fled by car from larger cities wept as they wondered who to call in the aftermath and the lack of food and water.
“It felt like a bomb had gone off,” said Mohamed Messi, 34.
Morocco will observe three days of national mourning with flags flown at half-staff in all public buildings, state news agency MAP reported.
Condolences poured in from countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Group of 20 summit in India, and world leaders offered to send aid and rescue teams. The president of Turkey, whose country suffered tens of thousands of deaths in a devastating earthquake earlier this year, was among those who offered assistance. France and Germany, which have large Moroccan populations, also offered assistance, and the leaders of both Ukraine and Russia also expressed support for the Moroccans.
In an unusual move, neighboring rival Algeria has finally offered to open its airspace to allow humanitarian aid and medical evacuation flights to and from Morocco. When the Algerian government severed diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021 over a series of issues, Algeria closed its airspace. The two countries have been in a decades-long conflict over territory in Western Sahara.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake, which occurred at 11:11 pm (10:11 pm Japan time), had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and the shaking lasted several seconds. U.S. government agencies reported a magnitude 4.9 aftershock 19 minutes later. The collision of the African and Eurasian plates occurred at relatively shallow depths, increasing the risk of earthquakes.
Earthquakes are relatively rare in North Africa. Larsen Manni, head of the earthquake monitoring and warning division at the National Geophysical Institute, told 2M TV that the quake was the strongest ever recorded in the region.
In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck near the city of Agadir in Morocco, killing thousands of people. The earthquake led to changes in building regulations in Morocco, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such shaking.
In 2004, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the Mediterranean city of Al Hoceima, killing more than 600 people.
Friday's earthquake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria, according to the Portuguese Oceanic and Atmospheric Institute and the Algerian Civil Defense Agency, which oversees the emergency response.
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Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Ahmed Hatem in Cairo, and Brian Merry and Hadia Bakkar in London contributed to this report.
