Morocco declares three days of mourning after devastating quake

Moroccan King Mohammed VI has declared three days of national mourning for the victims of Friday’s earthquake.

Flags will fly at half-staff on all public buildings during the mourning period, the Kingdom’s Royal Court said in a statement carried by the official Maghreb Arabe Press news agency.

The Moroccan monarch also ordered the formation of a ministerial committee to develop a reconstruction plan for destroyed homes.

At least 2,012 people were killed and 2,059 others injured following a powerful earthquake that struck Morocco late Friday.

Fatalities from the magnitude 7.0 quake occurred in various regions, including Al Haouz and Marrakesh provinces, as well as the cities of Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua, and Taroudant, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Strong tremors were also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira.

"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 Marrakesh when the quake hit.

"I went outside in a panic. I thought I was going to die alone."

It is 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".

"Where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough... so many collapse, resulting in high casualties," said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus at Britain's University College London.

Updated interior ministry figures on Saturday showed the quake killed at least 2,012 people, the vast majority in Al-Haouz, the epicentre, and Taroudant provinces.

Another 2,059 people were injured, and many were in critical condition, the ministry said.

The ministry also recorded deaths in Ouarzazate, Chichaoua, Azilal and Youssoufia provinces, as well as in Marrakesh, Agadir and the Casablanca area.

'Unbearable' screams

Faisal Badour, an engineer, said he felt the quake three times in his building in Marrakesh.

"There are families who are still sleeping outside because we were so scared of the force of this earthquake," he said. "The screaming and crying was unbearable."

In Moulay Brahim village, in the mountains of Al-Haouz province near the quake's epicentre, rescuers were searching for survivors in the rubble of collapsed houses, AFP correspondents reported.

On a nearby hill, residents began digging graves for the victims, the correspondents said.

Frenchman Michael Bizet, 43, who owns three traditional riad houses in Marrakesh's old town, told AFP that he was in bed when the quake struck.

"I thought my bed was going to fly away. I went out into the street half-naked and immediately went to see my riads. It was total chaos, a real catastrophe, madness," he said.

Footage on social media showed part of a minaret collapsed on Jemaa el-Fna square in the historical city.

An AFP correspondent saw hundreds of people flocking to the square to spend the night for fear of aftershocks, some with blankets while others slept on the ground.

Mimi Theobold, 25, a tourist from England, said she was with friends on a restaurant terrace when the tables began shaking and plates went flying.

Houda Outassaf, a local resident, sa id she was "still in shock" after feeling the earth shake beneath her feet -- and losing relatives.

"I have at least 10 members of my family who died... I can hardly believe it, as I was with them no more than two days ago," she said.

The interior ministry said authorities have "mobilised all the necessary resources to intervene and help the affected areas".

The regional blood transfusion centre in Marrakesh called on residents to donate blood for those injured.

The army has set up a field hospital in Moulay Brahim and deployed "significant human and logistical reso urces" to support search and rescue efforts in Al-Haouz, state news agency MAP said.