Strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake rattles Morocco

A robust earthquake struck Morocco late Friday, damaging buildings in main cities and sending panicked individuals pouring into streets and alleyways from the capital Rabat to Marrakech, the county’s most visited vacationer vacation spot.

There was no speedy phrase on whether or not there have been any accidents or deaths. Authorities officers had made no touch upon the extent of the quake’s impression as of early Saturday.

Moroccans posted movies exhibiting some buildings turned to rubble and mud, and elements of the well-known purple partitions that encompass the previous metropolis in historic Marrakech broken. Vacationers and others posted movies of individuals evacuating eating places within the metropolis as membership music performed.

Studies on harm and any casualties typically take time to filter in after many earthquakes, notably those who hit in the midst of the evening.

Somewhat than return to the buildings, males, ladies and youngsters stayed out within the streets apprehensive about aftershocks and different reverberations that would trigger their houses to sway.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m. native time, with shaking that lasted a number of seconds. Morocco’s Nationwide Seismic Monitoring and Alert Community measured it at 7 on the Richter scale. The U.S. company reported a magnitudue-4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later.

The epicenter of Friday’s tremor was excessive within the Atlas Mountains roughly 43.5 miles south of Marrakech. It was additionally close to Toubkal, the best peak in North Africa and Oukaimeden, a well-liked Moroccan ski resort.

The USGS stated the epicenter was 11 miles beneath the Earth’s floor, whereas Morocco’s seismic company put it at 5 miles down.

Variations in early measurements are widespread, though both studying can be Morocco’s strongest in years.   

In 2004, not less than 628 individuals have been killed and 926 injured when a quake hit Al Hoceima in northeastern Morocco, in response to the Agence France-Presse. In 1980, the 7.3-magnitude El Asnam earthquake in neighboring Algeria was one of many largest and most harmful earthquakes in current historical past, AFP reported. It killed 2,500 individuals and left not less than 300,000 homeless.