MOROCCAN QUAKE TOLL RISES TO 820, RESCUE OPS UNDERWAY

A powerful earthquake in Morocco has killed more than 800 people and injured hundreds more, making it the country’s deadliest tremor in over six decades, toppling houses in remote mountain villages where rescuers continue to dig through rubble for survivors

A magnitude 7.2 quake struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains late on Friday night. The Moroccan Interior Ministry said 820 people had been killed and another 672 injured. Most of the fatalities are in mountainous areas outside Marrakesh, the nearest city to the epicentre, an updated toll revealed.

The Interior Ministry urged calm, saying in a televised statement that the quake had hit the provinces of Al Haouz, Ouarzazate, Marrakesh, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant. Morocco’s geophysical centre said the quake struck just after 11 pm, local time, in the Ighil area of the High Atlas, a mountainous area with small farming villages about 70 km southwest of Marrakesh.