Nearly 3,000 fatalities reported after 6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes near Marrakech, Morocco

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Powerful quake in Morocco kills more than 1,000 people and damages historic buildings in Marrakech

APNEWS.COM

---

A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing more than 800 people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech.

 

Quote

 

A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing more than 1,000 people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech. The full toll was not known as rescuers struggled to get through boulder-strewn roads to the remote mountain villages hit hardest.

 

People woken by the magnitude-6.8 quake ran into the streets in terror and disbelief. A man visiting a nearby apartment said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people were knocked off their feet and chairs. A woman described fleeing her house after an “intense vibration.’’ A man holding a child said he was jarred awake in bed by the shaking.

 

State television showed people clustered in the streets of Marrakech, afraid to go back inside buildings that might still be unstable. Many wrapped themselves in blankets as they tried to sleep outside.

 

The quake was the biggest to hit Morocco in 120 years, and it toppled buildings and walls in ancient cities made from stone and masonry not designed to withstand quakes.

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

Jesus

[Keyser_Soze]

I saw the video of the guy standing outside with his PS5.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Fatalities are now reported at over 2,000.

[Massdriver]

🙁

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Morocco earthquake: mourning begins as rescue continues with death toll over 2,000 | Morocco | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

---

Villagers bury their dead while Red Cross warns recovery may take years and other countries offer aid

 

Quote

 

Rescuers in Morocco were trying to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings on Sunday as the country began three days of mourning for victims of a disaster that killed more than 2,000 people and left many more injured and homeless.

 

Friday’s 6.8-magnitude quake, Morocco’s deadliest in more than six decades, had an epicentre below a remote cluster of mountainous villages 45 miles south of Marrakech, and shook infrastructure as far away as the country’s northern coast.

 

The government reported that at least 2,122 people were killed and more than 2,421 injured, many of them critically. In Marrakech, many people slept outside on pavements and in squares, fearing returning to their homes.

 

Military forces and emergency services rushed to reach remote villages where many more victims were feared trapped.

 

 

Quote

 

Samia Errazzouki, an expert in the history and governance of the Moroccan state at Stanford University in California, said: “Roads and access to this region are already difficult, before you compound that with difficulties like rubble or problems with the roads. It’s going to take a miracle to get immediate aid there.”

 

Members of Morocco’s marginalised Amazigh community, sometimes known as Berbers, live among the villages in the earthquake zone. “These regions have historically been hit with earthquakes, but they have also been marginalised,” Errazzouki said.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Reported fatalities are near 2,500 and several international rescue teams are either en route or have already deployed.

[best3444]

Here we are on 9-11's anniversary and this death toll basically matches that. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

7 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Here we are on 9-11's anniversary and this death toll basically matches that. 

 

I have little doubt that it will exceed the 9/11 amount by day's end.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Morocco earthquake: Villagers' hopes waning in search for survivors

WWW.BBC.COM

---

Rescuers have been using their bare hands to dig for survivors as the death toll climbs.

 

 

Quote

Rescuers in Morocco have been using their bare hands as desperate search efforts continue for survivors of Friday's powerful earthquake.

 

A total of 2,681 people are known to have died in the tremor - the country's deadliest in 60 years.

 

Morocco's government is under pressure to accept more international aid, as rescuers battle with exhaustion.

 

So far, it has accepted help from only four countries - Spain, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

 

The 6.8 magnitude tremor hit the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh, and destroyed many rural and remote villages.

 

One of them - Tafeghaghte - has had its population of 200 people nearly halved, and many are still missing.

 

[legend]

Damn, then I see this thread right after the other  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Morocco quake: death toll rises to 2,901  | Reuters

WWW.REUTERS.COM

---

Many survivors of Morocco's earthquake were struggling in makeshift shelters on Tuesday after a fourth night outside, while villagers in devastated mountain areas voiced frustration at having received no help from the authorities.

 

Quote

 

Many survivors of Morocco's earthquake were struggling in makeshift shelters on Tuesday after a fourth night outside, while villagers in devastated mountain areas voiced frustration at having received no help from the authorities.

 

The death toll from the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck in the High Atlas Mountains late on Friday rose to 2,901, while the number of people injured more than doubled to 5,530, state television reported.

 

It was Morocco's deadliest earthquake since 1960 and its most powerful in more than a century.

 

Rescuers from Spain, Britain and Qatar were helping Morocco's search teams, while Italy, Belgium, France and Germany said their offers of assistance had yet to be approved.

 

The situation was most desperate for people in remote areas cut off by landslides triggered by the earthquake that blocked access roads, while in accessible locations relief efforts were stepping up with tent camps and distribution of food and water.

 

 

[TUFKAK]

My international rescue team is full up on volunteers so I’m staying stateside. Ever since the afghan evacuation I’ve been trying to get back into this.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The Moroccan government appears to be outright denying offers of international assistance due to geopolitical disagreements over its continued occupation of Western Sahara:

 

What's delaying lifesaving aid after Morocco and Libya natural disasters? Politics

NEWS.YAHOO.COM

---

In Morocco, an earthquake left thousands dead. In Libya, floods washed neighborhoods away. But lifesaving help is snarled in politics and rivalries.

 

Quote

 

Outside Morocco, there’s bewilderment: Despite dozens of international teams ready to mobilize after Friday’s magnitude 6.8 earthquake, the government in Rabat has officially accepted assistance from only four nations it deems “friendly” — Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Spain and Britain — and that acceptance came two days after the earthquake.

 

In Morocco, where the 72-hour “golden period” for saving lives has already passed, thousands are complaining that authorities have all but abandoned them, furious at what they say is the government’s lackadaisical response.

 

The Interior Ministry on Sunday sought to justify its reticence in welcoming aid, saying a “lack of coordination would lead to counterproductive results.”

 

But observers point out that geopolitics appear to be its real concern.

 

Algeria, which two years ago severed ties with Morocco over sovereignty issues in Western Sahara, opened its airspace to facilitate aid flights’ access and scrambled 80 rescue workers to help. After two days of silence, Morocco said Tuesday that it did not need its neighbor’s assistance, according to the Algerian Foreign Ministry.

That attitude reflects the views of King Mohammed VI, who “made it clear that Western Sahara was the lens through which Morocco would view all foreign engagement,” said Geoff Porter, president of North Africa Risk Consulting and an expert on the Maghreb region.

“Thus, aid offers are still viewed as tools of foreign policy,” Porter said. “This means that aid and relief cannot be accepted from countries that do not unequivocally recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.”

That might explain why Germany had to stand down a 50-person team from its Technical Relief Agency that had assembled at Cologne airport to fly to Morocco.

“It is incomprehensible that Rabat has so far forgone German help,” said Carl-Julius Cronenberg, who chairs the German Parliament’s group on the Maghreb, in a statement to the German newspaper Tageespiegel.
 

“The current situation should not be about misunderstood national pride.”

France, which colonized Morocco until 1956 — and has seen relations chill after disagreements over visa and immigration issues as well as France’s outreach to Algeria — was also rebuffed, with a team from the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders unable to enter the country.

“Unfortunately, we still don’t have the go-ahead from the Moroccan government,” Arnaud Fraisse, the group’s founder, said Sunday in a statement to broadcaster France Inter.

 

 

On 9/12/2023 at 10:28 AM, TUFKAK said:

My international rescue team is full up on volunteers so I’m staying stateside. Ever since the afghan evacuation I’ve been trying to get back into this.

 

Based on the above, that team was probably not even requested.

[TUFKAK]

Smh