A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing hundreds of people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech. Men, women, and children stayed out in the streets, fearing aftershocks. Morocco's Interior Ministry said early Saturday that at least 296 people had died in the provinces near the quake, the AP reports. More than 150 injured people were sent to hospitals for treatment. The ministry said most damage occurred outside of cities and towns.
Moroccans posted videos showing buildings reduced to rubble and dust, and parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city in Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage site, damaged. The epicenter of Friday's tremor was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, around 44 miles south of Marrakech. Local media reported that roads leading to the mountain region around the epicenter were jammed with vehicles and blocked with collapsed rocks, slowing rescue efforts. The US Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11pm, with shaking that lasted several seconds. The agency reported a magnitude-4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later.
The USGS said the epicenter was 11 miles below the Earth's surface, while Morocco's seismic agency put it at 5 miles down. In either case, such shallow quakes are 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 "exceptional." "Mountainous regions in general do not produce earthquakes of this size," he said. "It is the strongest earthquake recorded in the region." Friday's quake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria, authorities said. (More Morocco stories.)
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