Morocco\u2019s deadliest earthquake in decades has killed at least 820 people, officials said on Saturday, causing widespread damage and sending terrified residents and tourists scrambling to safety in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
The interior ministry said another 672 people were injured, including 205 in critical condition.<\/p>\n
The 6.8-magnitude quake struck a mountainous area 72 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of tourist hotspot Marrakesh at 11:11pm (10:11pm GMT) on Friday, the US Geological Survey reported.<\/p>\n
Strong tremors were also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt a very violent tremor, and I realised it was an earthquake,\u201d Abdelhak El Amrani, a 33-year-old in Marrakesh, told AFP by telephone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see buildings moving. We don\u2019t necessarily have the reflexes for this type of situation. Then I went outside and there were a lot of people there.<\/p>\n
People were all in shock and panic. The children were crying and the parents were distraught.\u201c \u201cThe power went out for 10 minutes, and so did the (telephone) network, but then it came back on,\u201d he added. \u201cEveryone decided to stay outside.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Morocco\u2019s deadliest earthquake in decades has killed at least 820 people, officials said on Saturday, causing widespread damage and sending terrified residents and tourists scrambling to safety in the middle of the night. The interior ministry said another 672 people were injured, including 205 in critical condition. The 6.8-magnitude quake struck a mountainous area 72 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-354828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n