More than 2,000 people have been killed in the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck close to Oukaïmedene, Morocco, on Friday night, authorities said Saturday.
Another 2,059 people remain injured, 1,404 of whom are in critical condition, the Associated Press reported Saturday. The earthquake, which terrifying footage shows laying waste to entire buildings, is the strongest Morocco has encountered in at least 100 years, the United States Geological Survey says.
Hundreds more people are still unaccounted for. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Caroline Holt told CNN Saturday that the death toll was likely to rise as more bodies are found.
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“Not only (do aftershocks) have the potential to create further injuries to people—and broken bones and severe head injuries, etc.—but really, it creates a sense of fear amongst the population that has survived the initial trauma,” she said.
In Marrakech, one of Morocco’s imperial cities, the wold-famous Koutoubia Mosque was reportedly damaged, but not destroyed.
“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,” Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, told the Associated Press. “I would expect the final death toll to climb into the thousands once more is known. As with any big quake, aftershocks are likely, which will lead to further casualties and hinder search and rescue.”
Emergency workers in Morocco are currently rushing to the epicenter of the quake, which hit mountain villages, to potentially dig out more victims, Al Jazeera reports.
