Magnitude 7 earthquake kills at least 1,037 and injures 672 in Morocco | Marrakesh | Igil | Videos | USGS Adassil latest | the world

At least 1,037 people died in the powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake. Morocco Friday night sowed panic in the tourist city of Marrakech, near the epicenter of the earthquake, according to a new official statement released this Saturday. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8 and struck at a depth of 18.5 kilometers, at 11:11 pm local time (10:11 pm GMT), 71 kilometers southwest of Marrakech.

The Moroccan National Center for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST) indicated a magnitude of 7.

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At least 1,037 people died and 1,204 were injured in the earthquake. The Ministry of Home Affairs has mentioned in a statement that the condition of 721 people is critical.

In the previous balance, out of 820 deaths, most deaths (394) were recorded. Al Hauz, Epicenter province and within They are running (271), further south.

Excavated graves

In Moulay Brahim, Al Hous, rescue teams were active this Saturday in the search for survivors. Among the ruins.

Nearby, neighbors were already digging graves on a hill to bury the victims, according to an AFP team at the scene.

For its part, the Moroccan army deployed “important human and logistical, air and land resources” such as search and rescue teams and a field hospital in Al Hous, state news agency MAP reported.

In MarrakeshVisually shocked Moroccans surveyed the damage to their homes amid piles of rubble, dust and stone-crushed cars.

The shock was felt as far away as the capital Rabat, hundreds of kilometers away, and even in neighboring Algeria in coastal cities such as Casablanca or Essaouira, where authorities dismissed damage or casualties.

Algeria’s presidential office announced the opening of its airspace on Saturday afternoon, along with the closure Morocco For two years, flights with humanitarian aid to earthquake victims.

Moroccan media reported This is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in this kingdom in North Africa.

“We panicked”

Videos are recorded Marrakesh They show tremors, debris falling from buildings into narrow alleyways, and people fleeing buildings amid stone-covered vehicles.

One of them shows the minaret of a mosque that collapsed in the heart of Marrakech’s famous Jemaa el-Fna square, injuring two people.

An AFP reporter saw hundreds of people gather at the iconic square to spend the night, fearing backlash. Some slept with blankets, others directly on the floor.

“We were walking through Jama el Fna and the earth started shaking, it was a really amazing feeling,” he explained to AFP in Houda Outchat Square.

“We are safe and sound but still in shock,” said the city dweller, who lost ten relatives in Ijogak, a rural village in Al Hauz.

Mimi Theobald, a 25-year-old English tourist, was about to have dessert on the restaurant’s terrace with some friends, “when the tables started shaking and the plates started flying. “We panicked.”

“Crying and Screaming”

Faisal Badur, 58, was driving home when he noticed the tremors. “I stopped and felt the devastation. It was so intense (…) The screaming and crying were unbearable,” he said.

Michel Bisset, a Frenchman who owns three tour companies in traditional houses (riads) in the old city of Marrakech, said the shaking woke him while he was sleeping.

“I went half-naked out into the street to look at the riads. It was total chaos, a real crazy disaster,” she explained.

Pope Francis expressed his “deepest solidarity with the victims” in a message sent by Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

The King of Spain, Felipe VI, said he was “devastated to receive news of a violent earthquake (…) which has caused a very large number of casualties”.

Several countries, including Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Israel, and the United States, provided Morocco with support for the recovery efforts.

France, which has a large population of Moroccan descent, expressed its “solidarity” and its president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was “shocked”.

Presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin; From Ukraine, Volodomir Zelensky; From Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and from China, Xi Jinping expressed their condolences and solidarity. The African Union expressed its “deep regret” over the tragedy.

Speaking from the G20 summit in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life”.

The Alawite Kingdom experiences frequent earthquakes in its northern part because it lies between the African and Eurasian plates.

In 2004, an earthquake in Al Hoceima, northeast of the country, killed at least 628 people and injured 926 others.