Moroccan earthquake claims more than 1,300 lives

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A strong earthquake struck Morocco on Friday evening, killing greater than 1,300 folks within the Excessive Atlas area close to the medieval metropolis of Marrakech.

Morocco’s inside ministry on Saturday night mentioned that 1,305 folks had been killed and one other 1,832 injured, in response to AP. The earthquake, which struck shortly after 11pm, hit hardest within the provinces of Al Haouz, Ouarzazate, Marrakech, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant. The tremors had been felt so far as Rabat and Casablanca on the Atlantic coast, the place some residents fled their houses and spent the evening on the streets.

Rescuers have spent the day digging for survivors via the rubble of houses in distant mountain villages within the Excessive Atlas in central Morocco the place many of the deaths have occurred. The inside ministry mentioned the very best variety of fatalities had been recorded in Al Haouz province, with 694 killed; and Taroudant, with 347.

Landslides triggered by the earthquake have delayed entry to some villages. Authorities in Marrakech have referred to as on residents to donate blood. The federal government has introduced three days of nationwide mourning and the military has been drafted in to assist with the rescue operation and help supply.

The World Well being Group mentioned greater than 300,000 folks had been affected in Marrakech and surrounding areas. 

The earthquake, which Morocco’s geophysical centre mentioned struck within the Ighil space of the Excessive Atlas with a magnitude of seven.2, was probably the most highly effective to have hit the nation since a 2004 tremor in al Hoceima within the northern Rif mountains killed 600 folks. The US Geological Survey put the most recent quake’s magnitude at 6.8.

Video footage confirmed rubble protecting automobiles in a road within the previous city of Marrakech the place buildings and the minaret from a mosque had collapsed. A whole bunch of locals and vacationers fled their motels and houses in worry of aftershocks and have gathered within the metropolis’s famed Jemaa al-Fnaa sq..

The previous metropolis centre, with its markets, conventional homes, museums and mosques, is a Unesco world heritage web site. Native stories say {that a} part of the medieval metropolis wall surrounding the centre had cracked.

Montasir Itri, a resident of the mountain village of Asni close to the epicentre, informed Reuters that many homes there have been broken. “Our neighbours are below the rubble,” he added.

Past the destruction and lack of life, authorities shall be anxious concerning the earthquake’s influence on tourism. Marrakech is a well-liked journey vacation spot and the variety of guests is predicted to surpass pre-Covid ranges this yr. Based on the tourism ministry, Morocco was on monitor to draw a report 14mn guests in 2023.