Serious earthquakes in Morocco, which the U.S. Geological Survey calls “uncommon but not unexpected,” have inflicted deaths and vital financial injury earlier than.
The worst in Morocco’s current historical past was a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that killed about 12,000 individuals and injured one other 12,000 in March 1960.
The western coastal city of Agadir crumbled underneath that quake’s drive. About a 3rd of its inhabitants perished. Restaurants, retailers and the central market had been leveled. Thousands of individuals had been buried underneath concrete.
A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck northern Morocco in February 2004, killing about 630 individuals, injuring a whole bunch and leaving about 15,000 homeless.
That quake, within the Mediterranean port metropolis of Al Hoceima, toppled mud-brick properties and buried sleeping residents underneath rubble. In a close-by village, properties had been flattened like cardboard containers. The subsequent day, dozens of survivors left homeless by the earthquake protested what they stated was a scarcity of presidency support. Several individuals had been injured in a conflict between protesters and the Moroccan navy that day, Act Daily News reported on the time.
The earthquake on Friday happened within the African Plate, about 340 miles south of the African-Eurasian plate boundary, which is seismically lively.
Other huge earthquakes in Morocco have claimed fewer lives. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake in March 1969 killed a couple of dozen individuals. And a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Morocco and Spain in January 2016, killing one individual.
Source: www.nytimes.com