Over 2,000 people are dead, and scores are missing due to a 6.8 Richter scale earthquake that rocked a mountain region in Morocco at 11:30 Friday night.

The quake destroyed five provinces at its epicenter near Ighil in Al Haouz province.

The epicenter was in the High Atlas mountains, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Marrakech, a popular tourist city of about 840,000 people. The city’s historic walls, first laid out in the early 12th century, have been damaged.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was the most powerful to shake the area surrounding Marrakech in more than 120 years.

The earthquake toppled buildings and buried cars under heavy rocks, dirt, and debris.

Residents and tourists ran outside seeking shelter, forcing many to sleep in the streets. Many feared that aftershocks would cause more buildings to shake and topple. 

At the same time, some people rode motorbikes and drove cars throughout the city as if nothing had happened.

This follows a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake near the Türkiye (Turkey)-Syria border in the early hours of Monday, February 6, 2023.



The earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria caused one of the biggest disasters to impact the region. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and many more have been injured. 

Thousands of buildings have collapsed, exposing countless people to unforgiving winter conditions. Schools and hospitals have been destroyed.



Morocco and Turkey are 2,418 miles apart.