The High Atlas Mountains in Morocco became the site of an open-air shelter for earthquake survivors on Saturday, a day after the country’s biggest earthquake in more than six decades claimed more than 2,000 lives and destroyed entire villages.
The late-Friday earthquake cracked open buildings made of mud brick, stone, and rough wood, and mosque minarets were knocked over. Neighbors were still looking for survivors buried on the slopes. Marrakech’s famous old city also sustained significant harm.
According to the Interior Ministry, there were 2,012 fatalities and 2,059 injuries, with 1,404 of those suffering from serious injuries. According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake’s epicentre was around 72 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Marrakech and its magnitude was 6.8.
Rescuers in the village of Amizmiz, which is close to the epicentre, dug through the debris with their bare hands. Narrow streets were blocked by fallen masonry. Around ten bodies were wrapped in blankets outside a hospital, and alongside stood distraught family members.
“When I felt the earth shaking beneath my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my kids out. But my neighbours 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.”
Rescue workers in Amizmiz were perched atop one of the building’s pancaked levels as carpet and furniture fragments poked out of the wreckage. People gathered outside the sole open store to wait in line for supplies. A road from Amizmiz to a nearby settlement was blocked by fallen stones, underscoring the difficulties rescuers were faced.
The majority of the homes in the Asni neighborhood, which is about 40 kilometers south of Marrakech, were destroyed, and the locals were getting ready to spend the night outside. The lack of food was caused by the collapse of kitchen roofs, according to villager Mohamed Ouhammo.
Montasir Itri, a resident of Asni, said the search was on for survivors.
“Our neighbours are under the rubble and people are working hard to rescue them using available means in the village,” he said.
The worst-hit settlement Reuters visited was Tansghart in the Ansi region, on a valley’s incline where the route from Marrakech ascends into the High Atlas. The trembling ground shattered the once-beautiful buildings that clung to the steep mountainside. Wall or plaster pieces were missing from those that were still standing. Two minarets of mosques had collapsed.
A laborer named Abdellatif Ait Bella lay on the ground, unable to speak or move, his head bandaged from injuries brought on by falling debris.
“We have no house to take him to and have had no food since yesterday,” said his wife Saida Bodchich, fearing for the future of their family of six with their sole breadwinner so badly hurt. “We can rely on nobody but God.”
According to a local, the village has already had ten fatalities, including two teenage females.
Even Huelva and Jaen in southern Spain experienced tremors. According to the World Health Organization, Marrakech and its environs were home to more than 300,000 impacted individuals.
