Rabat

The Moroccan government reported that the death toll from an earthquake near Marrakesh has reached 1,037, with over 1,200 injured. The earthquake was the largest to hit Morocco in 120 years and collapsed buildings and walls in ancient cities made of stone and masonry, which were not designed to withstand earthquakes. The full death toll is unknown as rescue workers struggle to navigate boulder-strewn roads to the hardest-hit remote mountain villages.

The earthquake was the largest to hit Morocco in 120 years and caused significant damage to ancient cities made of stone and masonry. The Moroccan government ordered the mobilization of air and land assets, specialized search and rescue teams, and a surgical field hospital. However, the Moroccan government had not formally asked for assistance, a step necessary before external rescue teams could be deployed.

Morocco’s interior ministry said at least 1,037 people were killed, mostly in Marrakesh and five provinces near the epicentre, and another 1,204 were injured. The condition of 721 of the injured is critical. Rescue teams searched for survivors throughout the night in the darkness, dust, and debris. Much of Moulay Brahim, a small hilltop village south of Marrakech, has become uninhabitable with walls collapsed, windows shattered, and more than a dozen homes reduced to heaps of concrete and leaning metal pillars. At least five residents were trapped.

Ayoub Tudayite, a resident of Moulay Brahim, described the shock of the earthquake as “doomsday,” describing the situation as “unheard of.” Rescue workers used hammers and axes to free a man trapped beneath a two-storey building, who was given water by those who could squeeze into the small space. The head of a town near the epicentre told Moroccan news site 2M that many houses in nearby towns had partially or completely collapsed, and electricity and roads had been cut in some places.