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Heartbreak in Morocco
A massive earthquake in Marrakech has left residents and the region reeling.
“This seismogram is from the San Pablo seismic station in Spain,” James St. John describes the graph above. “The noise is from a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, northwestern Africa. The quake hit at 11:10 PM, local time, on 8 September 2023. The epicenter was about 72 kilometers ~southwest of the town of Marrakech, Morocco.”
“The hypocenter was between 15 and 20 kilometers deep,” St. John explained. “Shaking resulted from reverse faulting along an almost east-west striking fault zone that dips steeply to the ~north or a ~northwest-southeast striking fault zone that dips shallowly to the ~southwest. A magnitude 4.9 aftershock occurred 19 minutes later.”
“Earthquake in Morocco: Morocco Races to Dig Out Survivors After Strongest Quake in 100 Years,” reported the New York Times. “Some of the hardest-hit areas were in the Atlas Mountains, where power and phone service were knocked out and roads blocked by debris. At least 2,000 people were killed.”
“Morocco survivors seek aid as earthquake toll passes 2,100,” reported Reuters. “Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades struggled to find food, water and shelter on Sunday as the search for the missing continued in remote villages and the death toll of more…