Rescuers searching for survivors dug through the rubble of collapsed houses in remote mountain villages in Morocco on Saturday, as the armed forces were forced into action after the country’s deadliest earthquake in more than 60 years.
Authorities on Saturday declared three days of national mourning after the magnitude 6.8 earthquake killed more than 2,012 people and injured 2,059, leaving many homeless.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the armed forces to mobilize specialized search and rescue teams and a surgical field hospital, according to a statement from the military.
The earthquake that struck Morocco’s High Atlas mountains on Friday evening damaged historic buildings in Marrakesh – the closest city to the epicenter – while most of the deaths were reported in the mountainous areas of the southern provinces. in Al-Haouz and Taroudant.
In the mountain village of Tafeghaghte near the epicenter of the earthquake, almost no buildings were left standing. The traditional clay bricks used by the Berber inhabitants of the region proved no match for the extraordinary earthquake.
“Three of my grandchildren and their mother were killed – they are still under the rubble,” villager Omar Benhanna, 72, told AFP. “Just a moment ago, we were all playing.”
The earthquake’s epicenter was at a depth of 18.5km (11.5 miles) and occurred about 72km (44 miles) northeast of Marrakesh, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Lahcen Haddad, a Moroccan senator and former minister, said the authorities responded quickly despite many challenges, including difficult terrain.
“Moroccan authorities … took people to hospitals in Marrakesh. There was a call to donate blood. After the earthquake in Al Hoceima in 2004, [authorities] put together a mega plan for a rapid intervention,” he told Al Jazeera.
In historic Marrakesh, people can be seen on state TV clustering in the streets, afraid to go back inside buildings that may still be unstable.
The city’s famous Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, was damaged but the extent was not immediately clear. The 69-meter (226-foot) minaret is known as the “roof of Marrakesh”. Moroccans also posted videos showing damage to parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation announced that a Cup of African Nations qualifier against Liberia, due to be played on Saturday in the coastal city of Agadir, has been postponed indefinitely.
The Red Cross said it was mobilizing resources to support the Moroccan Red Crescent but its director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hossam Elsharkawi, warned: “We are looking at months if not years for a response. “
Moroccan armed forces will deploy rescue teams to provide affected areas with clean drinking water, food supplies, tents and blankets, authorities said.
‘Leaning at home’
In the village of Amizmiz, near the epicenter, rescue workers are picking up garbage with their hands.
Outside a hospital, about 10 bodies lay covered in blankets as grieving relatives stood nearby.
“When I felt the ground shaking under my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my children. But my neighbors can’t,” Mohamed Azaw told Reuters news agency.
“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 son.”
Rescuers stood on the pancaked floor of a building in Amizmiz, about 55km (34 miles) south of Marrakesh, pieces of carpet and furniture sticking out from the rubble. A long queue formed outside the only open shop as people sought supplies.
Underscoring the challenges faced by rescuers, falling rocks blocked a road from Amizmiz to a nearby village.
Journalist Younis Ezzouhir told Al Jazeera from Marrakesh that efforts are continuing to clear roads to reach more survivors in the affected areas of al-Haouz province, especially the small town of Talat N’ Yaaqoub and the rural community there.
“This road faces landslides. It is a mountain road but the nature of the road is that the soil is clay soil, so it is weak, and when it rains or an earthquake there are a lot of dirt and stones that fell from the mountains,” Ezzouhir said.
Tremors were felt as far away as Huelva and Jaen in southern Spain. The World Health Organization says more than 300,000 people have been affected in Marrakesh and surrounding areas.
World reaction
When the news of the earthquake disaster in Morocco came out, reactions from the international community poured in.
Turkey, where powerful earthquakes in February killed more than 50,000 people, was among the countries that expressed solidarity and offered support.
Algeria, which cut ties with Morocco in 2021 after rising tensions between the countries focused on the Western Sahara conflict, said it would open its airspace for humanitarian and medical flights.
Despite an outpouring of aid offers from around the world, the Moroccan government has not formally requested aid, a step required before outside rescue crews can deploy.
The earthquake was recorded at a depth of 18.5km, usually more damaging than deeper earthquakes of the same magnitude. It was the deadliest earthquake in Morocco since 1960 when an earthquake was estimated to have killed at least 12,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey.
