No fewer than 2,000 people have been killed by Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades authorities disclosed on Sunday, as troops and emergency services scrambled to reach remote mountain villages where victims are still feared trapped.
Africa Today News, New York understands that authorities declared three days of national mourning, but the Red Cross warned that it could take years to repair the damage.
According to the US Geological Survey, the 6.8-magnitude earthquake occurred late on Friday in a hilly region 72 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of the popular tourist destination of Marrakesh.
The earthquake, which was also felt strongly in Rabat, Casablanca, and Essaouira, caused significant damage and sent panicked locals and visitors fleeing for safety in the middle of the night.
“I was nearly asleep when I heard the doors and the shutters banging,” said Ghannou Najem, a Casablanca resident in her 80s who was visiting Marrakesh when the quake hit.
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“I went outside in a panic. I thought I was going to die alone.”
In the mountain village of Tafeghaghte near the quake’s epicenter, virtually no buildings were left standing. The traditional clay bricks used by the region’s Berber inhabitants proved no match for the rare quake.
In the late afternoon, soldiers continued to search through debris, but most survivors headed to the cemetery where loud screams punctuated the last rites as some 70 villagers were laid to rest.
“Three of my grandchildren and their mother were killed — they are still under the rubble,” villager Omar Benhanna, 72, told reporters. “Just a while ago, we were all playing together,” he added.
It was the strongest-ever quake to hit the North African kingdom, and one expert described it as 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.
The latest update from the interior ministry late Saturday showed the quake had killed at least 2,012 people, the vast majority in Al-Haouz, the epicenter, and Taroudant provinces.
Another 2,059 people were injured, including 1,404 in a critical condition, the ministry said.