The Moroccan Interior Ministry said early Saturday that at least 296 people had been killed. However, it is clear that a complete overview cannot be given just a few hours after the earthquake. Hospitals in Marrakesh are reporting a “massive influx” of injured people. In total, more than 150 people have been admitted so far.
The tremors severely affected the historic old town of Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Images and videos from social networks show destroyed buildings. People ran from their homes in panic and stayed outdoors for fear of aftershocks. The electricity and the telephone network were temporarily out. The quake was also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira as well as in neighboring Algeria and even in Portugal.
According to the US Earthquake Observatory USGS, the earthquake occurred at 00:11 a.m. CEST in the Atlas Mountains at a depth of 18.5 kilometers, a good 70 kilometers southwest of Marrakech and 60 kilometers northeast of the city of Taroudant. The geophone at the Helmholtz Center Potsdam reported the magnitude of the earthquake as 6.9. A short time later, another aftershock with a magnitude of 4.9 was recorded.
In 2004, an earthquake in northeast Morocco killed at least 628 people and injured 926. In 1980, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake shook neighboring Algeria. 2,500 people were killed.
sti/rb/wa (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Source: DW
