Hope runs out for those trapped in Morocco's rubble
2:15
What we covered here
Rescuers are racing against the clock to find survivors in the rubble and reach isolated communities after Friday’s powerful earthquake. More than 2,800 people have been killed and 2,500 injured, according to Moroccan state media.
The quake was the strongest to hit the nation’s center in more than a century, and the worst destruction has been in isolated mountain areas.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered that a relief commission be set up to distribute aid to survivors, as global leaders have also pledged support. Here’s how you can help victims of the earthquake.
As their home began collapsing, Moroccan man recounts grabbing his sister and rushing outside
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová in Asni, Morocco
Hicham Ahazar after he had to wait two days to get his wound treated from the earthquake in Morocco.
Ivana Kottasová/CNN
Hicham Ahazar didn’t feel any pain when he injured his leg. All he was thinking about was getting himself and his sister out of the house that was collapsing around them.
Ahazar, 25, lives in Asni, a mountain town that was badly damaged. He and his sister were eating dinner — tajine, a Moroccan specialty — when the ground started shaking late on Friday night.
It was during that escape that Ahazar hurt his leg. He doesn’t know how exactly he got the deep cut on his knee. He thinks it was likely smashed by a piece of debris.
“I looked at my leg later and I saw there was a lot of blood. But I almost didn’t notice it. It was crazy,” he said. It wasn’t until Monday afternoon that he finally got to see a professional and have the wound cleaned and bandaged properly.
Speaking to CNN while waiting for that treatment at a field hospital that opened in Asni on Monday morning, Ahazar said he and his sister have spent the past three nights sleeping outside.
Their home near the Atlas Mountains is no longer safe, like the hundreds of others in their area.
Link Copied!
If you were planning a vacation in Morocco, should you still go?
From CNN's Julia Buckley
Thousands of people have been killed in the Morocco earthquake, with the death toll expected to rise as rescuers continue to search for survivors. As the country’s King Mohammed VI thanks Spain, Qatar, the UK and the UAE for sending aid, stories are emerging of the devastating impact on local communities.
If you were due to travel there, should you still go? Your instinct might be to stay away, as going on vacation in a country in national mourning seems unseemly. However, that’s not necessarily the best course of action, say those on the ground. Here’s what to know about travel to Morocco as the situation continues to unfold.
The epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake, which hit on Friday night, was in the High Atlas mountain range, about 72 miles southwest of Marrakech, in the province of Al Haouz, which has had the highest number of casualties.
It was felt strongly in Marrakech, where the historic medina has been damaged. Seaside cities popular with vacationers such as Essaouira and Agadir also felt it strongly, while the quake was felt as far north as Casablanca and Fez, around 300 miles northeast of Marrakech (although no damage has been done in either city or the north of the country as a whole).
It is the deadliest earthquake in Morocco in over 60 years.
“When the earthquake struck it caused a lot of fear and confusion – Morocco is not used to earthquakes, and it took some time for the local authorities to provide advice,” says Zina Bencheikh, Intrepid Travel’s Morocco-based managing director of EMEA. The company had around 650 travelers in the country when the quake hit.
At least 100,000 children affected by Morocco earthquake, humanitarian agency says
From CNN’s Kareem Khadder
About 100,000 children have been impacted by Friday’s earthquake in Morocco, according to initial reports, the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, said on Monday.
The agency said it doesn’t know exactly how many children were killed or injured in the disaster, “the latest estimates from 2022 indicate that children represent almost a third of the population in Morocco.”
The agency said it has “already mobilized humanitarian staff to support the immediate response on the ground, which is being led by the Kingdom of Morocco,” and it remains close with authorities and partners to provide further support.
Link Copied!
Morocco earthquake death toll rises to more than 2,800 people, state-run broadcaster reports
From CNN's Chris Liakos, Matog Saleh and Hamdi Alkhshali
People carry the remains of an earthquake victim in Imi N'Tala, Morocco, on Sunday.
Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images
At least 2,862 people have been killed in the Moroccan earthquake and 2,562 have been injured, state-run broadcaster 2M said Monday.
Rescuers are still searching through rubble and trying to reach isolated communities after the devastating earthquake struck on Friday. The quake is the strongest to hit the nation’s center in more than a century, and its epicenter was not far from popular tourist and economic hub Marrakech.
Its impact was felt far and wide, reaching as far north as Casablanca.
The worst impact wasin the province of Al Haouz, where nearly 1,500 people have died. The region, like many other badly affected locations, lies south of Morocco at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, and includes remote villages and settlements that have been difficult for rescuers to reach. Eyewitnesses in the foothills of the mountains said some towns are completely destroyed, with almost all the homes in an area of the village of Asni damaged.
CNN’s Amarachi Orie and Rob Picheta contributed reporting to this post.
Link Copied!
The quake is the strongest to hit Morocco's center in more than a century
From CNN's Amarachi Orie and Rob Picheta
A woman sits among the rubble of her village Douzrou, Morocco, on Monday.
Carl Court/Getty Images
Rescuers continue to search through the rubble and try to reach isolated communities after the devastating earthquake struck Morocco on Friday, killing thousands and leaving more injured or unaccounted for.
The quake is the strongest to hit the nation’s center in more than a century, and its epicenter was not far from popular tourist and economic hub Marrakech.
The earthquake struck at around 11.11 p.m. local time (6.11 p.m ET) on Friday. Its epicenter was located in the High Atlas mountain range, about 72 kilometers (44.7 miles) southwest of Marrakech, a city of about 840,000 people.
Its impact was felt far and wide, reaching as far north as Casablanca.
But it most severely damaged towns and villages near the base of the Atlas Mountains, while also ripping through the center and suburbs of Marrakech.
The quake had a magnitude of 6.8, meaning it is classed as “strong.” It also struck at a relatively shallow depth, making it more destructive.
Morocco has suffered earthquakes in the past, but few in its history have been so powerful. This quake is Morocco’s deadliest since 1960 when an earthquake killed more than 12,000 people.
Earthquakes of this size in the region are uncommon, according to the US Geological Survey, but not unexpected. It noted that nine quakes with a magnitude of 5 or higher have hit the area since 1900, but none of them have had a magnitude higher than 6.
Link Copied!
This has been the international response to the Morocco earthquake so far
From CNN's Amarachi Orie and Rob Picheta
Members of Spain's Military Emergency Unit (UME) search for survivors under a collapsed building near Khair Anougal, Morocco, on Monday.
France has activated emergency aid from local government funds to help with humanitarian operations in quake-affected regions, and will give 5 million euros ($5.3M) to non-governmental organizations operating in Morocco to aid rescure efforts, the government said Monday.
A Spanish search and rescue team, made up of 56 soldiers and four dogs, landed in Marrakech to help in the quake’s aftermath, according to Spain’s defense ministry.
Turkey, which was hit by a devastating earthquake that killed tens of thousands earlier this year, said it was ready to send 265 personnel and 1,000 tents to Morocco to support aid efforts.
Britain said it has deployed 60 search and rescue specialists, including four search dogs, rescue equipment and a medical assessment team to Morocco.
Algeria, which severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021 and closed its airspace to all planes registered in Morocco, said it would reopen its airspace for humanitarian aid and medical flights going to and from the Arab nation.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross Society of China said Monday it will send $200,000 in emergency humanitarian cash assistance to the Moroccan Red Crescent to support rescue and relief work.
The United Nations and US President Joe Biden have also said they are ready to provide assistance, and the World Bank has said it has offered the country its “full support.”
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi and Pierre Meilhan contributed reporting to this post.
Link Copied!
Here's what is happening on the ground in Morocco — and why it has been hard for rescuers to reach some areas
From CNN's Amarachi Orie and Rob Picheta
Men bring supplies on the back of a donkey to the village of Imoulas in Morocco on Monday.
Fethi Belaid/AFP via Getty Images
Emergency workers were deployed to affected regions after the earthquake, despite some roads being damaged or blocked by debris. Some remote villages on the foothills of the mountain have been hard to access.
Mohammed, 50, from the town of Ouirgane, lost four family members in the quake. “I managed to get out safely with my two children but lost the rest. My house is gone,” he said.
Rescue operations are still ongoing. “We are out in the streets with authorities as they try to pull the dead from the rubble. Many many people were transported to hospital in front of me. We are hoping for miracles from the rubble” he said.
But destroyed roads to villages are making it hard to get aid into some of the hardest-hit regions, a Moroccan government official told CNN.
Inside and outside Marrakech, many residents have spent two nights on the streets, afraid to return to their homes. In the hard-hit central village of Moulay Brahim, south of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains, CNN found a family living in a makeshift camp on a soccer field, with authorities telling them it could be a week before they can go home. Firefighters are leading rescue efforts but some buildings are too dangerous to enter.
Morocco’s government said it had activated all available resources to tackle the quake and urged people to “avoid panic.”
King Mohammed VI of Morocco ordered that a relief commission be set up to distribute aid to survivors, including orphans and people who lost their homes in the disaster.
He also declared three days of national mourning and ordered mosques nationwide to hold funeral prayers, known as “Janazah” prayers, at noon on Sunday for those killed.
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi and Pierre Meilhan contributed reporting to this post.
Link Copied!
Morocco military reaches epicenter of earthquake, state media reports
From CNN’s Mostafa Salem in Abu Dhabi
Morocco’s military reached Ighil, the epicenter of the deadly earthquake, state media 2M reported on Monday.
Military trucks carrying aid and soldiers with equipment arrived into the town, days after the earthquake struck.
Soldiers were walking up the mountain to reach the mountainous terrain and a bulldozer is at the site to remove rubble blocking roads to other villages, a 2M reporter said.
Ighil has a population of 5,000 across its villages and is located in the Al Haouz province, the worst-hit area of the earthquake, with at least 1,400 deaths.
Video shared on state media showed rubble from destroyed homes and buildings with vehicles carrying aid lining up to enter the town.
A military helicopter airdropped aid onto the villages in the town since the earthquake.
Link Copied!
Father of 3 witnesses his village reduced to rubble: "We are just waiting. There’s nothing else we can do"
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová in the Atlas Mountains
Ibrahim Goodman with one of his sons.
Ivana Kottasová/CNN
Ibrahim Goodman has lived in his village near the Moroccan town of Asni his whole life. He grew up here and now has three children.
That village, his home, is now mostly rubble. At least 20 people died there in Friday’s devastating earthquake, authorities say.
The first aid — some tents, and food and water — arrived in the village on Sunday, some 36 hours after the earthquake hit late on Friday night.
But at least they got something, Goodman told CNN. “For now, we are OK,” he said.
His 6-year-old son Mohamed has just started first grade. The first day of school was just two days before the disaster struck.
Goodman is not optimistic about when Mohamed might be able to get back to classes.
“It will depend on the government. There is no help now. I don’t know — it will take long time,” he said.
Most of the houses in the village are completely uninhabitable. Many have collapsed, and the ones that are still standing are dangerously unstable. Some of the buildings look like they have unfolded, with entire walls missing, exposing the remnants of the inside.
The villagers are staying away from the buildings, afraid they could crumble at any time. There is no water at the moment, as the pipes have been damaged.
Link Copied!
Morocco's military creates makeshift hospital near quake's epicenter
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová in the Atlas Mountains
The Moroccan military has built a huge tent camp and a field hospital on the edge of the town of Asni, near the epicenter of the earthquake that struck late on Friday.
Hospital head Col. Youssef Qamouss told CNN he has 24 doctors and 48 nurses on site, but added the staff and its capacity — that currently stands at 30 beds — can be expanded.
The makeshift field hospital in the town of Asni, southwest Morocco, which is being used to treat survivors of the earthquake.
Ivana Kottasová/CNN
Qamouss and his team are used to working in disaster zones. They’ve been deployed to Jordan and the Ivory Coast in the past, helping with crises there.
“We start with a triage to determine the needs of the patients, then send them to specialists,” he said.
“(The) most common injuries are burns, fractures, cuts, injuries to the face,” Qamouss said.
Youssef Qamouss, who is leading operations at the field hospital, told CNN there are 24 doctors and 48 nurses working at the facility.
Ivana Kottasová/CNN
The pharmacy tent was particularly busy in the first hours of the hospital’s operation, with many people trying to get hold of their regular medicines, which might have been lost in the earthquake, including blood pressure pills, insulin and others.
Link Copied!
This is Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades
From CNN’s Krystina Shveda
Rescue workers carry the body of an earthquake victim in Talat N'yaaqoub, Morocco, on Monday, September 11.
Hannah McKay/Reuters
Friday’s disaster is the deadliest quake to hit Morocco in more than 60 years, according to EM-DAT, an international disaster database. It is also the strongest in magnitude on its land territory in more than a century.
While casualties are still being updated, it has already become the third deadliest earthquake in North Africa since at least 1900, EM-DAT data shows.
In 1960, a 5.8 magnitude quake in Morocco with an epicenter in Adagir led to at least 12,000 deaths and 25,000 injuries. And in 1980, a 7.1 magnitude ground movement in Algeria followed by a tsunami caused more than 2,600 deaths and huge damage.
Here’s what we know:
Link Copied!
Villagers say they "have nothing left" as volunteers privately deliver aid from across Morocco
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová in the Atlas Mountains
The main thoroughfare through the southwest part of the Atlas Mountains was full of traffic on Monday morning, as heavy machinery and trucks transported aid to the areas most impacted by the earthquake.
A government-run tent camp in the town of Asni has swelled overnight, with many more tents and makeshift facilities being built.
But much of the help directed to these areas is privately organized by small groups of volunteers from across the country.
Abdelali Amzil, 34, and his neighbours loaded a van with food and water and drove it to the mountains from the coastal city of Casablanca, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) away.
They brought some of the supplies to a village in Ouirgane that was completely destroyed by the quake.
Abdelali Amzil drove from Casablanca to distribute aid to quake-stricken regions in the Atlas Mountains.
Ivana Kottasová/CNN
Half the residents of the village are now camping out in a little grove just off the main road. About 300 people are staying here, according to Hmed Elmouden, one of the locals.
His house is now just a pile of rubble and he and his family are grieving his sister-in-law, who was one of the 30 people killed in this village.
Many people have died in Ouirgane, so everyone here knows someone who was killed. The families left behind are huddled together sharing food and water, grieving as a community.
Hmed Elmouden, center, a resident of Ouirgane, lost his home in the earthquake.
Ivana Kottasová/CNN
Link Copied!
Germany tells travelers in Morocco to avoid mountainous areas
From CNN's Stephanie Halasz
People carry food and water past quake-damaged buildings in Ouirgane, Morocco, on September 10.
Carl Court/Getty Images
The German foreign office has told travelers to avoid mountainous regions in Morocco, where the epicenter of a devastating earthquake was located in the North African country on Friday.
The travel advice, which is regularly given after such events, urged travelers to avoid mountainous regions around the towns of Imlil, Ouirgane and Asni.
The foreign office strongly discouraged journeys to the Western Sahara, and the severely affected region around the towns of Imlil, Ouirgane and Asni.
“Older buildings in the historic city centers (medina) have been severely damaged in isolated cases and are uninhabitable; however, buildings and hotels of newer construction have remained largely undamaged.”
The advice tells travelers to follow local news if they are in the affected region.
Link Copied!
4 telecom companies in France make calls and texts to Morocco free
From CNN’s Joseph Ataman and Claudia Colliva in Paris
Calls and text messages to Morocco from customers of four telecom companies in France will be made free of charge, the French minister responsible for digital affairs said Monday.
Following the devastating earthquake, Orange, Free and Bouygues have already made these communications free, and SFR will follow at midnight local time Monday, said Jean-Noël Barrot on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
About 1.5 million Moroccans or those with roots in the North African country live in France and more than 50,000 French people live in Morocco, CNN’s affiliate BFMTV reports.
Link Copied!
"I cannot even bury them": Survivors in the Atlas Mountains feel desperate and frustrated
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová, Zeena Saifi, Mark Esplin and Sam Kiley
Moulay Brahim was once a happy place for Sami Sensis. The village is located high in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, and its scenery, the fresh air, the friendly people drew his parents there nearly every summer.
Now they are buried somewhere under the rubble of their hotel on the edge of what remains of the village.
The building partially collapsed after a powerful earthquake struck Moulay Brahim late on Friday night. The epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake was not far from the village that lies about two hours southwest of Marrakech.
The quake, the strongest to hit Morocco in more than 120 years, has killed nearly 2,500 people. Many others remain missing.
Local officials told CNN that 25 people were killed in the village. Three people – including Sensis’ mother and father – were still missing as of Sunday afternoon.
Sensis, 39, was getting increasingly desperate and frustrated. “I cannot even bury them. I can’t see them, I don’t know where they are,” he said as his voice cracked with emotion and anger.
Britain deploys 60 search and rescue specialists to Morocco
From CNN's Pierre Meilhan and Sana Noor Haq
A resident walks past damaged houses in the aftermath of the earthquake in Moulay Brahim, Morocco, on Sunday, September 10.
Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
The UK government will dispatch 60 emergency relief officials, four search dogs and rescue equipment to Morocco to support the aid efforts there.
The team will travel to the North African nation on Monday via Royal air Force A400M aircraft provided by the Ministry of Defence, the British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCO) said in a statement on Sunday.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly offered his “deepest sympathies to the people of Morocco after this tragic event.”
The UK International Search and Rescue team uses specialist equipment including seismic listening devices, and concrete cutting and breaking tools, to help lift people from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Link Copied!
Destroyed roads are affecting aid deliveries to Morocco's worst-impacted regions
From CNN’s Mostafa Salem
Machinery is used to remove debris from a road outside Adassil, Morocco, on Monday, September 11.
Nacho Doce/Reuters
The destruction of roads into remote villages are hindering efforts by Moroccan authorities to direct aid to some of the country’s hardest-hit regions, a Moroccan government official told CNN.
“The rescue efforts are ongoing to reach the difficult areas. The earthquake struck mountainous areas that are scattered geographically and it’s difficult to reach these areas in some cases,” the official said.
Authorities are using helicopters to reach the worst-hit areas and machinery to remove the rubble from the impassable roads, the official added.
Efforts are primarily focused on rescuing injured people and reaching those who may still be in the rubble in the mountainous regions. Triage field hospitals are in the process of being built, according to the official.
“There is an effort to build field hospitals near the villages affected to bring those injured and administer first aid before they are sent onwards to hospitals,” the official added.
Link Copied!
Quake death toll rises to nearly 2,500 people
From CNN’s Mostafa Salem
People attend the funeral of two victims of the deadly earthquake in Moulay Brahim, Morocco, on September 10.
Hannah McKay/Reuters
The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday has increased to at least 2,497 people, as of 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) on Monday, state media said.
Another 2,476 people have been injured.
The disaster killed 1,452 people in Al Houz region, 764 in Taroudant, 202 in Chichaoua, 41 in Ouarzazate, 18 in Marrakech, 11 in Azilal, five in Agadir, three in Casablanca province, and one person in Youssoufia province.
Link Copied!
China’s Red Cross to send $200,000 in emergency assistance to Morocco
From CNN’s Mengchen Zhang
The Red Cross Society of China said it will send $200,000 in emergency humanitarian cash assistance to the Moroccan Red Crescent
The aid is to support rescue and relief work being carried out after the magnitude 6.8 quake that struck Morocco Friday, the Chinese Red Cross said in a Monday statement.
Leaders from other countries including Turkey, France, and the UAE have pledged to send donations, to bolster emergency operations in the wake of the disaster.
Link Copied!
France to donate 5 million euros in earthquake aid
From CNN’s Joseph Ataman in Paris
France will give 5 million euros ($5.3M) to local and international NGOs operating in Morocco to aid earthquake responses efforts, the French foreign minister said Monday in an interview with CNN affiliate BFMTV.
This comes after France was “among the first” to offer assistance to Morocco following the quake, but Rabat had not given an answer to the offer, she said, adding that Morocco has not refused the aid.
French president Emmanuel Macron has had “numerous exchanges” with King Mohammed VI of Morocco since the earthquake, but they have not spoken, she said.
The king was in France at the time of the earthquake but returned to his country on Saturday, the minister said.
Four French citizens were killed in the earthquake, with a further 15 injured, she confirmed, adding that there are “a few” French citizens that authorities are still trying to reach.
The king thanked Spain, Qatar, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates for sending aid, state-run broadcaster Al Aoula said Sunday.
Some context: While Spain said Sunday that Morocco had officially requested its aid — and that a plane of 56 Spanish rescue personnel had since arrived to help — it was not initially clear how many of the other international aid offers the Moroccan government has accepted.
The UN said on Friday that it had offered assistance on search and rescue, humanitarian and medical needs, but an official said at the time that Morocco was “deploying its own answer to the earthquake.”
