The number of fatalities in the earthquake in Morocco has risen to 820, the Medias24 portal said, citing the kingdom’s Interior Ministry.
Another 672 people were affected, with 205 of them severely injured, according to the portal.
Local authorities and rescue services continue working in the emergency zone.
According to the statement by the National Geophysical Institute of Morocco, a 7-magnitude earthquake occurred at 11:11 p.m. local time on Friday (1:11 a.m. Moscow time on Saturday).
The epicenter was located in the district of Igil in the province of El Haouz, which is part of the Marrakech-Safi region, with the origin at a depth of 8 km.
The previous strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Morocco occurred on February 24, 2004 in the province of El Hoceima (North of the country), killing 628 people.
It had a lower magnitude, at 6.3 compared to last night’s 6.8, but still killed more than 600 people injured more than 900. Up to 15,000 people were left homeless.
The deadliest and most destructive earthquake in Morocco’s history came on 29 February 1960.
It happened near the city of Agadir on the country’s western shore, killing more than 12,000 people leaving at least 35,000 homeless.
It had a relatively moderate magnitude of 5.8, but its shallow depth, proximity to Agadir, and the quality of building construction in the city made its impact devastating.
The quake promoted changes in Morocco’s construction rules, but many buildings – especially rural homes like those worst hit on Friday night – are not built to withstand such tremors.
The tremors of Friday night’s earthquake in Morocco were felt within a radius of 400 km from its epicenter.
“The earthquake, the epicenter of which was in the municipality of Igil, 80 km southwest of Marrakech, was felt in Moroccan cities within a radius of 400 km,” Nasser Jabour, head of the department at Morocco’s National Geophysical Institute, told the Maghreb Arabe Press news agency.
The size and shallow depth of the Morocco earthquake means it’s likely to have caused damage across a wide area.
With agency reports
