A strong earthquake hit Morocco last night, killing thousands of people, damaging the historic city of Marrakech, and destroying some villages in the Atlas Mountains. The exact death toll remains unclear because rescuers have been unable to get through boulder-strewn roads to the remote mountain villages that experienced the largest loss of life.
Inhabitants woken by the magnitude-6.8 earthquake ran into the streets in terror. People described dishes and wall hangings raining down on them, and being knocked off their feet and chairs.
State TV channels showed people clustered in the streets of Marrakech, afraid to go back inside homes and apartment buildings that might be unstable. Thousands wrapped themselves in blankets as they tried to sleep outside.
The quake was the biggest to hit Morocco since 1903, and it destroyed buildings and walls in ancient cities made from stone and masonry not engineered to withstand quakes.
“The problem is that where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough to cope with strong ground shaking, so many collapse resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysics and the University College London. “As with any big quake, aftershocks are likely, which will lead to further casualties and hinder search and rescue
In Marrakech, the famous Koutoubia Mosque, constructed in the 12th century, was damaged. Its 226-foot-high minaret is called the “roof of Marrakech.” Moroccans posted images of damage to the famous red walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Rescuers combed the rubble for survivors throughout the night.
Most of the village of Moulay Brahim, carved into a mountainside south of Marrakech, was destroyed, with homes reduced to piles of concrete and bent metal poles. At least five inhabitants were trapped. Rescuers were using hammers and axes to free a man trapped under a two-story building. People capable of squeezing into the tiny space were giving him water. “We are all terrified that this happens again,” said a resident.
The Moroccan military deployed aircraft, helicopters and drones and emergency services mobilized aid efforts to the areas hit by damages, but roads leading to the mountain region around the epicenter were jammed with vehicles and blocked with collapsed rocks, slowing rescue efforts.
On the steep and winding switchbacks from Marrakech to Al Haouz, ambulances with sirens blaring and honking cars veered around piles of red rock that had tumbled from the mountainside and blocked the road. Red Cross workers tried to clear a boulder blocking the two-lane highway.
The epicenter of Friday’s tremor was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, roughly 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) south of Marrakech. Al Haouz is known for scenic villages and valleys tucked in the High Atlas, and villages built into mountainsides.
The USGS said the epicenter was 11 miles below the Earth’s surface, while Morocco’s seismic agency put it at 7 miles down. Such shallow quakes are more dangerous.
Lahcen Mhanni, Head of the Seismic Monitoring and Warning Department at Morocco’s National Institute of Geophysics, says last night’s earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in the region.
In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 tremor struck near the Moroccan city of Agadir, killing thousands of people.
Authorities reacted to the Agadir quake by toughening construction rules, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are still not built to withstand earthquakes.
In 2004, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake near the northern coastal city of Al Hoceima killed more than 600 people.
