Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades has killed at least 820 people, officials said Saturday, causing widespread damage and sending terrified residents and tourists scrambling to safety in the middle of the night.
The 6.8-magnitude quake struck a mountainous area 72 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of tourist hotspot Marrakesh at 11:11 pm (2211 GMT) Friday, the US Geological Survey reported.
Strong tremors were also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira.
“We felt a very violent tremor, and I realised it was an earthquake,” Abdelhak El Amrani, 33, told AFP by telephone from Marrakesh.
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“I could see buildings moving,” said Amrani who went outside, joining many other people, “all in shock and panic. The children were crying and the parents were distraught.”
It was the most powerful quake to ever hit the country, and one expert called it the region’s “biggest in more than 120 years”.
“Where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough… so many collapse, resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus at Britain’s University College London.
An AFP correspondent saw hundreds of people flocking to the square to spend the night for fear of aftershocks, some with blankets while others slept on the ground.
Houda Outassaf, a local resident, told AFP he was walking around the square when the ground began to shake.
“It was a truly staggering sensation. We’re safe and sound, but I’m still in shock,” he said.
“I have at least 10 members of my family who died… I can hardly believe it, as I was with them no more than two days ago.”
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Fayssal Badour, another Marrakesh resident, told AFP the earthquake hit while he was driving.
“I stopped and realised what a disaster it was… The screaming and crying was unbearable,” he said.
The interior ministry said authorities have “mobilised all the necessary resources to intervene and help the affected areas”.
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