The earth shook beneath their feet. A powerful earthquake, with a magnitude of 7, shook Morocco overnight from Friday to Saturday, killing at least 1,037 people and injuring many, according to a provisional report. The tremor, which also caused enormous damage, sowed panic in several cities, in particular in Marrakech, located 70 km from the province of Al-Haouz, epicenter of the earthquake.
The popular tourist town woke up in shock on Saturday morning. The alleys of the medina district were strewn with debris, and old buildings collapsed. One of the minarets of the mosque Jemaa el-Fna collapsed not far from the famous square of the same name, on which many residents took refuge. “We were really scared,” he told 20 minutes Quentin, a Frenchman on vacation with his wife in the ocher city. “We were in bed, it was 11 p.m. We were doing a video call with relatives. And then suddenly, it started to shake. But something sick! There we looked at each other and we immediately understood that it was an earthquake, ”explains the 33-year-old young man.
“My wife even started saying prayers”
Like many other witnesses, Quentin recounts the tremors that seemed endless. “We started to hear cracking noises in the wall, on the roof. We thought everything was going to collapse on us. So we got up, we found ourselves in the middle of the room without knowing what to do. We got squatted, glued to the front door of our room, while it passed. But it continued… My wife even started to say prayers, ”adds the young man.
“It finally stopped, after a minute I think. And then we said to ourselves, come on go go go ! We got dressed, we took our passports and wallets and we went outside, ”explains Quentin. Like many residents of Marrakech, the couple chose not to stay indoors. “All the small streets of the medina were filled with stones. We stood out there for an hour wondering what we were going to do. We tried to look for a place rather outside the city, far from the constructions, in case there are aftershocks and new landslides”.
In the ocher city, which has 13 dead according to a provisional report, hundreds of tourists and inhabitants of the districts have indeed found refuge outside, in particular on the Jemaa el-Fna square. “What was impressive was to see the whole city, all the districts of Marrakech, the whole population outside, in the street, on the roundabouts… The whole city was so shocked by what happened that no one wanted to go home,” says Quentin.
The provisional toll of the violent earthquake that struck Morocco has risen to 1,037 dead, the Interior Ministry announced on Saturday. The quake also left 1,204 injured “of which 721 are in critical condition,” the ministry said in a statement. More than a third of the deaths have been recorded in Al-Haouz, epicenter of the earthquake and in Taroudant further south, said the same source. It was the most powerful earthquake to hit the kingdom to date.