The most powerful earthquake in 123 years struck in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains just past 11 p.m. Friday night about 44 miles southwest of Marrakesh. It killed at least 1,000 and injured at least 1,200 in mountain villages and in Morocco’s fourth largest city, including Marrakesh’s UNESCO World Heritage site old city. The temblor collapsed buildings and structures, including parts of its famed surrounding red walls, and sent thousands scrambling into the streets.
“Our emergency aid and experts are already on the way to feed, clothe, and provide medicine and supplies to our stricken brothers and sisters,” said Halil Demir, Zakat Foundation of America’s executive director.
Zakat Foundation of America’s Emergency Response team is moving its reserve emergency aid from Istanbul to Marrakesh.
The earthquake, its shallowness increasing its devastation, flattened the mountain village of Asni, near its epicenter in the Al-Haouz province, also turning villages in the Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant provinces into rubble and panicking people as far away as Casablanca. Seismologists are warning residents of the area to stay away from weakened buildings for up to four weeks, expecting aftershocks that could bring down the structures.