INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
figure would rise further as rescuers struggled to reach hard-hit remote areas.The magnitude 6.8 quake, the biggest to hit the North African
country in 120 years, sent people fleeing their homes in terror and disbelief late Friday
One man said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people were knocked off their feet
The quake brought down walls made from stone and masonry, covering whole communities with rubble.The devastation gripped each town along the
helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.Remote villages like those in the drought-stricken Ouargane Valley were largely cut
off from the world when they lost electricity and cellphone service
historic Marrakech, people could be seen on state TV clustering in the streets, afraid to go back inside buildings that might still be
walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.At least 2,012 people died in the quake, mostly in Marrakech and five
said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London.In a sign of the huge scale of the
according to a statement from the military.The king said he would visit the hardest hit area Saturday, but despite an outpouring of offers
of help from Israel and other countries around the world, the Moroccan government had not formally asked for assistance, a step required
kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech
Al Haouz is known for scenic villages and valleys tucked in the High Atlas Mountains.Police, emergency vehicles and people fleeing in shared
taxis spent hours traversing unpaved roads through the High Atlas in stop-and-go traffic, often exiting their cars to help clear giant
leveled.Couch cushions, electric cords and grapes were strewn in giant piles of rubble alongside dead sheep, houseplants and doors wedged
Relatives from the town and those who had driven from major cities cried while they wondered who to call as they reckoned with the aftermath
mourning with flags at half-staff on all public facilities, the official news agency MAP reported.World leaders offered to send in aid or
rescue crews as condolences poured in from countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Group of 20 summit in India
The president of Turkey, which lost tens of thousands of people in a massive earthquake earlier this year, was among those proposing
France and Germany, with large populations of people of Moroccan origin, also offered to help, and the leaders of both Ukraine and Russia
expressed support for Moroccans.A rescue team from the Israel Defense Forces was also readying for departure to Morocco, pending a formal
request from Rabat.Israeli emergency NGO IsraAID said Saturday it was also prepared to join the relief efforts in Morocco, and planned to
dispatch a delegation with aid to Marrakesh and the surrounding area
The group said its team was due to arrive in Marrakesh Sunday and had been in contact with the local Jewish community.Defense Minister Yoav
partners during national crises
from his office, referring to a series of US-backed normalization deals.Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said it was also readying to join any
consul in Rabat Dorit Avidani was heading to the hardest-hit Marrakesh area to get a full picture of the needs there, the ministry said.In
an exceptional move, neighboring rival Algeria offered to open its airspace to allow eventual humanitarian aid or medical evacuation flights
to travel to and from Morocco
Algeria closed the airspace when its government severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021 over a series of issues
The countries have a decades-long dispute involving the territory of Western Sahara.The US Geological Survey said the quake had a
preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m
(22:11 GMT), with shaking that lasted several seconds
The United States agency reported a magnitude 4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later
The collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates occurred at a relatively shallow depth, which makes a quake more
dangerous.Earthquakes are relatively rare in North Africa
Lahcen Mhanni, Head of the Seismic Monitoring and Warning Department at the National Institute of Geophysics, told 2M TV that the earthquake
was the strongest ever recorded in the region.In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 tremor struck near the Moroccan city of Agadir and caused thousands
That quake prompted changes in construction rules in Morocco, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such
