Morocco quake deaths climb to 1,300, as rescuers race to find survivors

Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades has killed more than 1,300 people, authorities said Saturday, as troops and emergency services scrambled to reach remote mountain villages where casualties are still feared trapped.
Authorities declared three days of national mourning, but the Red Cross warned that it could take years to repair the damage.
The 6.8-magnitude quake struck late Friday in a mountainous area 72km (45 miles) southwest of the tourist city of Marrakech, the US Geological Survey reported.
With strong tremors also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira, the quake caused widespread damage and sent terrified residents and tourists scrambling to safety in the middle of the night.

“I was nearly asleep when I heard the doors and the shutters banging,” said Ghannou Najem, a Casablanca resident in her 80s who was visiting Marrakech when the quake hit. “I went outside in a panic. I thought I was going to die alone.”
In the mountain village of Tafeghaghte near the quake’s epicentre, virtually no buildings were left standing. The traditional clay bricks used by the region’s Berber inhabitants proved no match for the rare quake.
In the late afternoon, soldiers continued to search through debris, but most survivors headed to the cemetery where loud screams punctuated the last rites as some 70 villagers were laid to rest.
“Three of my grandchildren and their mother were killed – they are still under the rubble,” villager Omar Benhanna, 72, said. “Just a while ago, we were all playing together,” he added.
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It was the strongest-ever quake to hit the North African kingdom, and one expert described it as the region’s “biggest in more than 120 years”.

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