Each publication of a new assessment suggests the extent of the disaster. According to the latest figures released on the evening of Saturday, September 9 by the Moroccan Interior Ministry, at least 2,012 people died in the powerful earthquake that hit the center of the country overnight from Friday to Saturday.
The earthquake, which caused enormous damage and sowed panic in Marrakech, a tourist hotspot, also left at least 2,059 injured, of whom 1,404 are in serious condition. The kingdom has declared a three-day national mourning, announced the royal cabinet, following a meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI devoted to this earthquake, the most powerful to hit the country to date.
The National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) measured the magnitude of the earthquake at 7 (6.8 according to the American seismological service), specifying that the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the province of Al Haouz, in southwest of Marrakech.
In this area, the village of Tafeghaghte, 60 kilometers from Marrakech, was almost completely decimated, according to a team from Agence France-Presse (AFP). Few of the buildings are still standing, while elements of the army continued the search for bodies buried under the rubble. Many people went to the cemetery to bury some seventy remains. The funeral rites were punctuated by screams and tears.
Villages completely destroyed
Moroccan television channels broadcast aerial images showing entire villages with clay houses in the Al Haouz region completely destroyed. The International Red Cross alerted the international community to the importance of aid for Morocco, citing needs for “months or even years”.
More than half of the dead were recorded in the provinces of Al Haouz (1,293) and Taroudant (452), further south, two mountainous rural areas in the heart of the High Atlas, according to the ministry. “Public authorities are still mobilized to speed up rescue and evacuation operations for the injured,” he added. The Moroccan army has deployed “significant human and logistical resources, air and ground”, as well as search and rescue teams, and a field hospital in the Al Haouz region, the Moroccan press agency reported. MAP.
In the mountainous village of Moulay Brahim, rescuers were searching for survivors among the rubble of collapsed houses. Not far from there, residents were already digging graves on a hill to bury the victims, according to an AFP team on site.
In Marrakech, on Saturday, Moroccans, looking dazed, inspected the damage caused to their homes, amid piles of rubble, dust and cars crushed by stones. “I was thrown from my bed and [I] couldn’t get up immediately because the shaking was so strong. I thought it was a plane crash,” confides Bernard Curi, owner of a hotel located south of Marrakech.
The regional blood transfusion center in Marrakech called on residents to come to its premises on Saturday to donate blood for the injured.
Momentum of international solidarity
Besides Marrakech, the shock was felt in Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir and Essaouira, sowing panic among the population. Many people took to the streets of these cities, fearing the collapse of their homes.
The tragedy sparked a surge of solidarity around the world, with several countries, including Israel, France, Spain, Italy and the United States offering their help. French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “upset after the terrible earthquake.” “France stands ready to help with first aid,” he added on X (formerly Twitter), on the flight which took him to the G20 summit which takes place this weekend in New Delhi. On Saturday evening, the leaders of the twenty-seven member countries of the European Union co-signed a letter to the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, saying they are “in full solidarity” and “ready to help in any way that [the king deems] useful “.
Even neighboring Algeria, whose relations with the Shereef kingdom are stormy, announced that it had decided to open its airspace, closed since September 2021, to flights transporting humanitarian aid and the wounded.
This earthquake is the deadliest in Morocco since the one that destroyed Agadir, on the west coast of the country, on February 29, 1960. Nearly 15,000 people, or a third of the city’s population, perished.