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Deadly Earthquake of 6.8 magnitude hit Morocco on September 8, 2023. This middle eastern country of rich ancient history has seen nearly 3 thousand people dead as of  the update of September 18 with the number of injured increasing to more than 5 thousand due to the quake. Towns and villages wiped out and turned into a pile of debris. 

King of Morocco Mohammed VI declared three days of national mourning from September 9. He has instructed his government to promptly carry out field relief operations and provide assistance to earthquake victims. Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity also mobilized in his order to support citizens in affected areas. Moroccan Red Crescent teams are providing physical and mental health care support, including transportation to hospitals for people with injuries. Help and Support from the government and international community is coming for the people of the affected areas. Spain, Britain, and the U.S. are sending disaster teams, France Foreign Ministry activates a pledge fund and Algeria opened its airspace for medical and humanitarian flights.

Around 11 pm in the night, Moroccan time this deadly quake has shaken the towns and villages in the Atlas Mountains region. Some villages in the high Mountains of Atlas have been totally wiped out. A village named Tenzirt is one of them. In the small village Tenzirt, about 110 mud houses have totally collapsed by the earthquake. Most of the villages in the mountains like Tenzirt are very remote areas and their houses are built of Mud which has been an instant graveyard for the dwellers.

Ancient buildings and establishments of tourist interests have been severely damaged. Morocco’s fourth-largest ancient city Marrakesh’s old town is a UNESCO declared world heritage, adorned by the Moroccans and foreign tourists for its medieval mosques, palaces has seen irreparable damages. It is the most damaged city among the largest cities of Morocco. Medieval walls and Minarets of Mosques along with old residential buildings have been damaged in Marrakesh.

Over five hundred educational institutes were damaged in Morocco. In the south of Marrakesh, the mountain villages like Adaseel where the earthquake had hit the hardest, 32 children of the same class of a small school all of the age 6 to 9 years old died in the earthquake. The whole world is wiping their tears with the teacher of that school who returned to the village only to find out no students of hers are alive anymore.

Aftershocks of the Earthquake shaking the ground of morocco one after another, at least hundreds aftershocks recorded to the highest of 5.9 magnitude. Aftershocks are expected to continue for another week or more. People are still living in the fear of the trembling ground, unable to sleep after losing their home. There are places so remote in the high Atlas Mountains where the support for food and shelter unable to reach. 

This is the deadliest earthquake in Morocco's history since 1960. The epicenter of this earthquake was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71 km south-west of Marrakesh. It is rather a rare earthquake in terms of the intensity and origin according to the experts. While seismic activity is not uncommon in the North African region, large earthquakes are relatively rare. The boundary of the African and Eurasian plate lies in the north of the country, which is the most active in seismicity; as a result, the north of the country was considered to have the highest level of seismic hazard. But such an intense seismic activity originating from further south, a low seismicity area in Marrakesh is uncommon. 

However, there are a number of faults lying underneath the country like a web and the Fault under the Atlas mountains is one of them. These faults have been gathering a lot of energy from the continuous pressure from the plates pushing towards one another. The energy has been released through the earthquake and scientists reckon that more earthquakes are to be expected due to the high tension the faults have accumulated. 

Kazi Israt Jahan is a Research Intern at CGS