Morocco Earthquake Death Toll Reaches Over 1,000, Rescuers Dig for Survivors
Editor
10 September 2023 00:31 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Amizmiz - Rescuers dug through rubble for survivors in collapsed houses in remote mountain villages of Morocco on Saturday, Sept. 9, in the wake of the country's deadliest earthquake for more than six decades, which killed more than 1,000 people.
The quake which struck in Morocco's High Atlas mountains late on Friday night damaged historic buildings in Marrakech - the nearest city to the epicenter - while most of the fatalities were reported in mountainous areas to the south.
The Interior Ministry said 1,037 people had been killed and another 672 injured by the quake, gauged by the U.S. Geological Survey at a magnitude of 6.8 with an epicenter some 72 km (45 miles) southwest of Marrakech.
In the village of Amizmiz near the epicenter, rescue workers picked through rubble with their bare hands. Fallen masonry filled narrow streets. Outside a hospital, around 10 bodies lay covered in blankets as grieving relatives stood nearby.
"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," said Mohamed Azaw. "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."
Rescuers stood atop the pancaked floors of one building in Amizmiz, bits of carpet and furniture protruding from the rubble. A long queue formed outside the only open shop as people sought supplies. Underlining the challenges facing rescuers, fallen boulders blocked a road from Amizmiz to a nearby village.
The quake, which hit at around 11 p.m., affected a sweep of the High Atlas mountain range. Tremors were felt as far away as Huelva and Jaen in Andalusia in southern Spain.
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.
