According to the latest provisional report, the earthquake killed more than 2,100 people in the Atlas region, south-west of the tourist city of Marrakech. Among them, four French nationals.
Thousands of dead, villages razed and rescue workers still hoping for a miracle while searching the rubble. It’s a real race against time that is being played out in Morocco, 48 hours after the earthquake which killed more than 2,100 people, according to a still provisional assessment.
>> Earthquake in Morocco: the latest information live
Moroccan rescuers, supported by foreign teams, are continuing the search to find survivors and above all to provide assistance to hundreds of homeless people.
“A heart attack”
This earthquake occurred during the night of Friday to Saturday September 8, trapping entire families in their homes. Among these victims, at least four French people lost their lives, and around fifteen were injured. As of Sunday evening, the French ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, provided explanations.
“The first Frenchman to die had a heart attack in Agadir at the time of the earthquake. We also learned of the death of a young couple who were in a house near Marrakech which collapsed. Finally, that of a person in a French family in a village located south of Marrakech and east of Agadir, at the epicenter of the earthquake“, he indicated on BFMTV, specifying that French nationals are currently being treated in local hospitals
More than 4000 calls in 48 hours
However, the assessment concerning the French and dual nationals is still provisional: more than 50,000 French people are officially established in Morocco and registered by the consular services, mainly in the cities of Casablanca and Rabat, which were not affected by the earthquake. . On the other hand, tourists and French people of Moroccan origin staying with family during the summer months number in the thousands.
The French ambassador also specifies that “The French authorities are in daily contact with the Moroccan authorities“.”Today, nothing stands in the way of tourists wishing to go to Marrakech to do so. There is no reason to leave the stay hastily or to give up the planned one“, he concluded.
The Quai d’Orsay crisis unit set up on Friday evening received over the weekend more than 4,000 calls from French people or Moroccans residing in France and without news of their relatives in Morocco. Of magnitude 7 according to the Moroccan Center for Scientific and Technical Research (6.8 according to the American Seismological Service), this earthquake is the most powerful to have ever been measured in Morocco.