A rare, powerful earthquake in Morocco has killed over 2,000 people and injured hundreds more, with the toll expected to rise as rescuers struggled Saturday to reach survivors through the rubble of toppled buildings.
The magnitude-6.8 quake, Morocco’s deadliest in over sixty years, struck the country’s High Atlast mountains late Friday night, damaging buildings in Marrakech, the closest city to the epicenter, which was some 45 miles southwest.
The country’s Interior Ministry said Saturday that at least 2,012 people had been killed and another 2,059 injured, with most of the fatalities in mountain regions. Among the injured, 1,404 were in critical condition, per the outlet.
In the village of Amizmiz, located near the epicenter, rescue workers picked through rubble while toppled masonry filled the streets.
Grieving relatives stood near a hospital, where around 10 bodies lay covered in blankets.
“When I felt the earth shaking beneath my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my kids out. But my neighbors couldn’t,” local resident Mohamed Azaw told Reuters. “Unfortunately no one was found alive in that family. The father and son were found dead and they are still looking for the mother and the daughter.”
In the city of Marrakech, where 13 fatalities were reported, the quake sent people fleeing into darkened streets in terror.
Morocco state television broadcast images of people clustering in the streets, many wrapping themselves in blankets as they tried to sleep outside, wary of going back into buildings that they feared might still crumble.
Street camera footage in Marrakech showed the moment the earth began to shake, as men suddenly looked around and jumped up, and others ran for shelter into an alleyway and then fled as dust and debris tumbled around them.
State television footage from the Moulay Ibrahim area some 25 miles south of Marrakech showed dozens of houses collapsed at the foothills of a mountain. Groups of women stood in the street while some residents dug graves.
Montasir Itri, a resident of the village of Asni near the epicenter, said most houses there were damaged.
By Tom Ozimek
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