Updated September 10, 2023 at 1:45 p.m. EDT|Published September 10, 2023 at 1:10 p.m. EDT
A family walks through the remains of houses on a street in the Jewish neighborhood of Amizmiz in Morocco on Sunday. The area was hit by an earthquake on September 8th. (Sima Diab for The Washington Post)
AMIZMIZ, Morocco (AP) — As buildings continue to collapse, rescuers are searching for survivors of the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that killed at least 2,100 people and injured another 2,400. The death toll from the quake that struck western Morocco late Friday is expected to rise significantly.
President Biden expressed his condolences and said his administration is “working expeditiously to ensure the safety of American citizens in Morocco.” [and is] We stand ready to provide any necessary assistance to the Moroccan people.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning that “we are waiting for word from the Moroccan government to find out how we can help “Where we can help, but we are ready to go.” Until Sunday, King Mohammed VI. neither publicly asked for international assistance nor addressed the nation directly.
Here’s the latest on the devastating earthquake in Morocco:
This is the strongest earthquake to hit the region in more than a centurysaid the US Geological Survey (USGS) in a preliminary report. Earthquakes of this magnitude are “unusual but not unexpected” there, it said, adding that there had not been one with a magnitude greater than magnitude 6 since 1900.
The earthquake occurred about 75 kilometers southeast of Marrakeshat a depth of about 11 miles (18.5 kilometers), putting it in the category of a shallow earthquake, which tends to be more destructive.
More than 300,000 people in Marrakesh and the surrounding area are affected by the disaster, accordingly the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Players from the Moroccan national football team donated blood After health officials called for donations to help those injured in the quake, the team said in a social media post that included: Video the player of a healthcare facility.
The size of the quake area and the complexity of the terrain make rescue efforts difficultsaid Caroline Holt, Director of Disasters, Climate and Crises at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Some affected areas can only be reached by helicopter, she said, adding that heavy machinery needed to clear debris may be difficult to transport through such mountainous terrain.
The epicenter of the quake was in al-Haouz province, a mountainous and rural area where rescue workers struggled to get past fallen debris and get to victims through difficult terrain. According to the Interior Ministry, more than 1,000 people died there.
Buildings collapse more than a day after the earthquake. In a destroyed house in the town of Amizmiz, traces of its former residents were visible in the rubble: velvet blankets, suitcases, rugs and a sagging mattress that gave way under the weight of the former second-floor ceiling. Most of this city’s residents have sought higher ground where there are flat, dry areas on which to pitch tents.
“At first I couldn’t understand what was going on. I couldn’t do anything. I just froze,” said Faiz Yassine, who was with his family at his home in Moulay Brahim, a village in al-Haouz, when the quake struck. They tried to escape their unit in a four-story apartment building. They were stuck watching their walls break. The 32-year-old and his family were spared any physical injuries. He said about 30 people in his neighborhood had died and countless more were missing. Although they lived in a newer building, Yassine said the earthquake destroyed their apartment.
“Nobody came to help us” said Rachid Bouaddi, a Casablanca resident who was returning to his hometown of Adassil in Chichaoua province. He said nine people died in the city, including a child. Rescue efforts are focused on the hardest-hit areas nearby. He described two nights of hard physical labor as residents tried to pull survivors out from under the rubble. But without water, food and electricity, he said, fatigue and overwhelming losses began to set in.
At a large Carrefour grocery store in Marrakesh, some shoppers stocked up on non-perishable foods – sausages, milk powder and bottles of water – to go to the mountains and distribute them to the residents of the most affected villages.
In Marrakesh, people reported desperate evacuations as the walls collapsed around them. videos Social media showed Marrakesh’s largest minaret swaying as people ran away below. Elsewhere in the city, residents shielded their mouths from the dusty air and reached out to each other for support as they navigated narrow alleys in the darkness.
(Video: Sebastian Rosemont)
About 19.3 million people were exposed to the earthquake, according to USGS data released Saturday morning. Cell phone networks went down in the worst-hit areas, leaving family members across the country and around the world anxiously awaiting news.
The United States is ready to provide assistance, Biden said. In general, governments can request or accept help through formal or informal means, such as diplomatic notes, emails, or phone calls. US aid and assistance can be deployed immediately, such as with the US Agency for International Development’s assessment team now in Morocco, or in other past disasters.
The Qatari International Search and Rescue Group travels to Morocco to assist with recovery operationsthe organization said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the group would provide urgent humanitarian assistance to those affected by the quake.
Several nations and groups offered assistance to Morocco – including FranceThe Great Britain, Germany, IndiaChina, Austria and devastated by the earthquake Turkey. Algeria also offered to reopen its airspace to provide aid and medical evacuations, the Associated Press reported. Algeria closed its airspace to Morocco in 2021, when the two countries severed diplomatic ties over a long-running dispute over Western Sahara, among other things.
The US Embassy in Rabat warned that hospitals in Marrakech and other major cities “have limited capacity” and it said local hospitals in the worst-hit areas “could be overwhelmed.”
4. More from our correspondents
Anger and despair in earthquake-hit Morocco as communities wait for help: AMIZMIZ, Morocco — Communities near the epicenter of Morocco’s powerful earthquake were a picture of devastation and anger on Sunday, as residents described pulling loved ones from the rubble with their bare hands. In most places there were no signs of the rescue teams promised by the government, and word has not yet come from many villages further up the mountains.
Buildings were still collapsing in the small town of Amizmiz on Sunday afternoon, nearly 40 hours after Friday evening’s quake. In one house, in the ruins of a ceiling on the second floor, traces of its former occupants could be seen: velvet blankets, suitcases, carpets, a sagging mattress. The survivors had moved to higher ground and pitched their tents on flat, dry land.
Although aid was gradually making its way to Amizmiz, an administrative center in a mountain valley, search and rescue teams had not yet arrived. The wail of sirens could be heard in the distance as ambulances raced up the main road to villages deeper in the country.
Brasch and Rosenzweig-Ziff reported from Washington, Hassan and Loveluck from London and Kasulis Cho from Seoul.