Moroccans Sleep in Streets for Third Night After Earthquake That Claimed More Than 2,100 Lives

The social aftershocks of an earthquake in Morocco that killed more than 2,100 people are rippling across the North African country, as people slept in the streets of Marrakech for a third straight night and soldiers and aid teams fanned into remote mountain towns that were hit hardest.The United Nations estimated that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake.Amid offers from several countries, including America, Israel, and France, Moroccan officials said Sunday that they are accepting international aid from just four: Spain, Qatar, Britain, and the United Arab Emirates.Morocco has not made an international appeal for help like Turkey did in the hours following a quake earlier this year, according to aid groups.“The Moroccan authorities have carefully assessed the needs on the ground, bearing in mind that a lack of coordination in such cases would be counterproductive,” the interior ministry said in a statement.While some foreign search-and-rescue teams arrived on Sunday as an aftershock shook Moroccans already in mourning and shock, other aid teams poised to deploy grew frustrated waiting for the government to officially request assistance.“We know there is a great urgency to save people and dig under the remains of buildings,” the founder of Rescuers Without Borders, Arnaud Fraisse, who had a team stuck in Paris waiting for the green light, said. “There are people dying under the rubble, and we cannot do anything to save them.”Help was slow to arrive at Amizmiz, where a whole chunk of the town of orange and red sandstone brick homes carved into a mountainside appeared to be missing. A mosque’s minaret had collapsed.Residents swept rubble off the main road into town and people cheered when trucks full of soldiers arrived. Then they pleaded for more help.Those left homeless — or fearing more aftershocks — slept outside Saturday, in the streets of the ancient city of Marrakech or under makeshift canopies in hard-hit Atlas Mountain towns like Moulay Brahim. Both there and at Amizmiz, residents worried most about the damage in hard-to-reach communities. The worst destruction was in rural communities that rely on unpaved roads that snake up the mountainous terrain covered by fallen rocks.Those areas were shaken anew Sunday by a magnitude 3.9 aftershock, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It wasn’t immediately clear if it caused more damage or casualties, but it was likely strong enough to rattle nerves in areas where damage has left buildings unstable and residents feared aftershocks.In a region where many build bricks out of mud, Friday’s earthquake toppled buildings not strong enough to withstand such a mighty temblor, trapping people in the rubble and sending others fleeing in terror. A total of 2,122 people were confirmed dead and at least 2,421 others were injured — 1,404 of them critically, the interior ministry reported.Most of the dead — 1,351 — were at the Al Haouz district in the High Atlas Mountains, the ministry said.The epicenter of Friday’s quake was near the town of Ighil at Al Haouz Province, about 44 miles south of Marrakech. The region is known for scenic villages and valleys tucked in the High Atlas Mountains.The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m., lasting several seconds, the USGS said. A magnitude 4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later, it said. The collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates occurred at a relatively shallow depth, which makes a quake more dangerous.It was the strongest earthquake to hit the North African country in more than 120 years, according to USGS records dating to 1900, but it was not the deadliest. In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 temblor struck near the city of Agadir, killing at least 12,000. That quake prompted Morocco to change construction rules, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such tremors.At Marrakech, large chunks were missing from a crenelated roof, and warped metal, crumbled concrete and dust were all that remained of a building cordoned off by police.Devastation gripped each town along the High Atlas’s steep and winding switchbacks, with homes folding in on themselves and people crying as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.Flags were lowered across Morocco, as King Mohammed VI ordered three days of national mourning starting Sunday. The army mobilized search and rescue teams, and the king ordered water, food rations and shelters to be sent to those who lost homesHe also called for mosques to hold prayers Sunday for the victims, many of whom were buried Saturday amid the frenzy of rescue work nearby.

Moroccans Sleep in Streets for Third Night After Earthquake That Claimed More Than 2,100 Lives

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