Survivors of the Moroccan earthquake huddled in the open air on Saturday on the High Atlas Mountains, a day after the country’s deadliest earthquake in more than 60 years killed more than 2,000 people and destroyed villages.
Neighbors were still searching for survivors buried on the slopes, where mud-brick, stone and rough-wood houses were torn open and mosque minarets toppled by the earthquake that struck late Friday. The historic old city of Marrakech also suffered extensive damage.
The Interior Ministry said 2,012 people were killed and 2,059 injured, of whom 1,404 were in critical condition. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8 with an epicenter about 72 km (45 miles) southwest of Marrakech.
In the village of Amizmiz, near the epicenter, rescuers picked through the rubble with their bare hands. Fallen brickwork blocked narrow streets. Outside a hospital, about a dozen bodies lay covered in blankets as grieving relatives stood nearby.
“When I felt the earth shaking under my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my children out. But my neighbors couldn’t,” said Mohamed Azaw. “Unfortunately, no one in that family was found alive. The father and son were found dead and they are still looking for the mother and daughter.”
Rescuers stood atop the pancake floors of a building in Amizmiz, as bits of carpet and furniture stuck out of the rubble. A long line formed outside the only open store as people shopped for supplies. Underscoring the challenges rescuers face, fallen boulders blocked the road from Amizmiz to a nearby village.
Almost all houses in the area of Asni, about 40 km south of Marrakech, were damaged and villagers prepared to spend the night outside. There was a shortage of food because the roofs of the kitchens had collapsed, said villager Mohamed Ouhammo.
Montasir Itri, a resident of Asni, said the search was on for survivors.
“Our neighbors are under the rubble and people are working hard to rescue them using the resources available in the village,” he said.
The village of Tansghart in the Ansi area, on the side of a valley where the road from Marrakech goes up to the High Atlas, was hardest hit by Reuters. The once beautiful houses, which clung to a steep slope, were broken up by the shaking ground. Those still standing were missing pieces of wall or plaster. Two mosque minarets had fallen.
Abdellatif Ait Bella, a worker, lay on the ground, barely able to move or speak, his head bandaged against wounds caused by falling debris.
“We have no home to take him to and haven’t had any food since yesterday,” said his wife Saida Bodchich, fearing for the future of their family of six with their sole breadwinner so badly injured. “We have no one to trust but God.”
The village is already mourning 10 deaths, including two teenage girls, a resident said.
The tremors were felt as far away as Huelva and Jaen in southern Spain. The World Health Organization said more than 300,000 people have been affected in Marrakech and surrounding areas.
RUNNING TOWARDS DISTINCTION
Street camera footage in Marrakech showed the moment the earth began to shake, as men suddenly looked around and jumped, and others ran into an alley for shelter and then fled as dust and debris tumbled around them.
In the heart of the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a mosque minaret had fallen in Jemaa al-Fna Square. Some houses in the densely packed old town collapsed and people used their hands to remove rubble as they waited for heavy equipment, said resident Id Waaziz Hassan.
Morocco has declared three days of national mourning, during which the national flag will fly at half-mast across the country, the royal court said on Saturday.
The Moroccan Armed Forces will deploy rescue teams to provide the affected areas with clean drinking water, food supplies, tents and blankets, it added.
Turkey, where powerful earthquakes killed more than 50,000 people in February, was among countries to express solidarity and offer support.
Algeria, which cut ties with Morocco in 2021 after escalating tensions between the countries centered on the Western Sahara conflict, said it would open its airspace to humanitarian and medical flights.
The earthquake was recorded at a depth of 18.5 km, which is typically more destructive than deeper earthquakes of the same magnitude. It was the deadliest earthquake in Morocco since 1960, when the US Geological Survey estimated at least 12,000 people were killed.
Mohammad Kashani, associate professor of structural and earthquake engineering at the University of Southampton, compared scenes of the aftermath with images from Turkey in February: “The area is full of old and historic buildings, mainly made of masonry. I saw…were old or undersized.”
Marrakech will host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank from October 9.
An IMF spokesperson, asked about the planned meetings, said: “Our sole focus at this time is on the people of Morocco and the authorities dealing with this tragedy.”
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