People take shelter and check for news on their cellphones after an earthquake in Rabat, Morocco, late Friday. At least 296 people were killed, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said. Mosa’ab Elshamy/Associated Press
RABAT, Morocco — A powerful earthquake that struck Morocco late Friday night killed at least 296 people, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
Moroccans posted videos showing buildings reduced to rubble and dust; parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city in historic Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage site, could be seen damaged. Tourists and others posted videos of people screaming and evacuating restaurants in the city as throbbing club music played.
Rather than return to concrete buildings, men, women and children stayed out in the streets worried about aftershocks and other reverberations that could cause their homes to sway.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m. local time (6:11 p.m. Eastern), with shaking that lasted several seconds. Morocco’s National Seismic Monitoring and Alert Network measured it at 7 on the Richter scale.
Variations in early measurements are common, although either reading would be Morocco’s strongest in years. Though earthquakes are relatively rare in North Africa, a magnitude 5.8 tremor struck near Agadir and caused thousands of deaths in 1960.
The USGS reported that a magnitude-4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later.
The epicenter of Friday’s tremor was high in the Atlas Mountains some 40 miles south of Marrakech. It was also near Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, and Oukaimeden, a popular Moroccan ski resort.
The USGS said the epicenter was 11 miles below the Earth’s surface, while Morocco’s seismic agency put it at 5 miles down.
The quake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere and Algeria’s Civil Defense agency, which oversees emergency response.
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