Rabat (HAMARA WATAN) A massive earthquake struck Morocco on night, killing at least 632 people and damaging buildings ranging from the historic city of Marrakesh to villages in the Atlas Mountains.The country’s Home Ministry said early Saturday that at least 632 people have died due to the earthquake and 329 injured have been admitted to hospital.The ministry said that most of the damage occurred outside cities and towns.
Moroccans have shared several videos on social media, in which buildings are seen collapsed and reduced to debris and dust is visible all around.Parts of the famous red walls surrounding Morocco’s historic city of Marrakesh have been damaged.Marrakesh is included in the list of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Sites.
The head of a town near the epicenter told Moroccan news site 2M that many houses in nearby towns had partially or completely collapsed, with electricity supply cut off in some places and roads blocked. went.
The head of the city of Tlat N’Yaqoub, said authorities were clearing roads in the province so ambulances could pass and provide aid to the affected population.He said it would take time to assess the damage due to the extreme distance between the villages located on the mountain.
Local media reported that rescue operations were slow due to blockage of roads leading to the mountainous region surrounding the epicenter.The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake, which struck at 11:11 pm, had an initial magnitude of 6.8 and that aftershocks continued for several seconds.The US agency reported an aftershock of magnitude 4.9 19 minutes later.
The epicenter of Friday’s earthquake was in the city of Ighil in Al Houz province, about 70 kilometers south of Marrakesh.The USGS reported that the epicenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 18 kilometers from the earth’s surface, while according to Morocco’s earthquake monitoring agency, its epicenter was at a depth of eight kilometers. Earthquakes occur relatively rarely in North Africa.
This is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the region.An earthquake of 5.8 magnitude occurred near the city of Agadir in Morocco in 1960, due to which thousands of people died.Construction regulations in Morocco were changed after this earthquake, but many buildings, especially houses in villages, are not earthquake resistant.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the Mediterranean coastal city of Al Hoceima in 2004, killing more than 600 people.According to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere and Algeria’s Civil Protection Agency, the earthquake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria.
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