Powerful earthquake kills 'at least' 296 in Morocco, govt says

A powerful earthquake struck Morocco's High Atlas Mountains late on Friday, killing at least 296 people, destroying buildings and sending residents of major cities rushing from their homes, reports Reuters

The Interior Ministry said the number constituted a preliminary death toll and that 153 people had been injured. A local official said most deaths were in mountain areas that were hard to reach.

Residents of Marrakech, the nearest big city to the epicentre, said some buildings had collapsed in the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and local television showed pictures of a fallen mosque minaret with rubble lying on smashed cars.

Pan-Arab al-Arabiya news channel reported that five people were killed from one family, citing unnamed local sources.

The Interior Ministry, in its televised statement on the death toll, urged calm and said the quake had hit the provinces of Al Haouz, Ouarzazate, Marrakech, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant.

Montasir Itri, a resident of the mountain village of Asni near the epicentre, said most houses there were damaged. "Our neighbours are under the rubble and people are working hard to rescue them using available means in the village," he said.

Further west, near Taroudant, teacher Hamid Afkar said he had fled his home and there had been aftershocks following the initial quake.

"The earth shook for about 20 seconds. Doors opened and shut by themselves as I rushed downstairs from the second floor," he said.

Morocco's geophysical centre said the quake struck in the Ighil area of the High Atlas with a magnitude of 7.2.

The quake hit 44 miles (71 kilometers) southwest of Marrakesh at a depth of 18.5 kilometers at 11:11pm (2211 GMT), reports AFP.

It sent debris flying into narrow alleyways and items tumbling off shelves, according to video posted on social media.

USGS's PAGER system, which provides preliminary assessments on the impact of earthquakes, issued an orange alert for economic losses, estimating significant damage is likely, and a yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities, indicating some casualties are possible.

USGS said that "the population in this region lives in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking."

Morocco experiences frequent earthquakes in its northern region due to its position between the African and Eurasian plates.

In 2004, at least 628 people were killed and 926 injured when a quake hit Al Hoceima in northeastern Morocco.

The 1980, the 7.3-magnitude El Asnam earthquake in neighboring Algeria was one of the largest and most destructive earthquakes in recent history. It killed 2,500 people and left at least 3,00,000 homeless.

/KN/