My car rocked back and forth, but I didn’t imagine for a single second this meant there was an earthquake happening,” said Fayssal Badour, from Marrakech, who spoke to France24. “I was returning home when the earthquake struck. “The problem is that where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough to cope with strong ground shaking, so many collapse, resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London. State TV showed people wrapped in blankets sleeping in the street, fearing further aftershocks. Local television showed piles of rubble and broken pipes crushing parked cars and blocking streets across Marrakech, as residents rushed into the street after the quake struck at 11.11pm on Friday. Initial reports said part of a minaret that towered over Djemaa el-Fna, a market square and hub for visitors, had collapsed, injuring two people, before people fled to the open area of the square to seek shelter. The city’s famous 12th-century Koutoubia mosque suffered damage, but the extent was not immediately clear. Residents of Marrakech, the major city nearest to the epicentre, said some buildings had collapsed in the old city, a Unesco world heritage site. The Moroccan armed forces were deploying rescue teams to provide affected areas with clean drinking water, food supplies, tents and blankets, it added. Morocco declared three days of national mourning, during which the national flag would be flown at half mast, the royal court said. The World Health Organization (WHO) said more than 300,000 people had been affected by the powerful tremors throughout the country. The full toll will almost certainly increase as rescuers have struggled to bypass boulder-strewn roads to the remote mountain villages that were hit hardest. At least another 2,059 people were injured, 1,404 critically, officials said. At least 2,012 people died in the quake, mostly in Marrakech and five provinces near the epicentre, Morocco’s interior ministry said.
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