Monday, September 11, 2023
Morocco has suffered devastating earthquakes— memories of the 1960 quake in Agadir, which killed about 12,000 people, loom large but they are far from common. Many were unsure how to react.
The earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night hit near Marrakech, a popular tourist destination, sending both residents and visitors scrambling for safety.
Oussama Ait Chari, a guide who works for a tourism expedition company in Marrakech, was outside, chatting with a friend after dropping off a client at her hotel, when the tremors started, toppling street lamps.
Jen Lorang, 41, a jeweller based in western Massachusetts, was in her riad when the thick bedroom walls shook and pottery crashed to the floor.
Morocco has suffered devastating earthquakes — memories of the 1960 quake in Agadir, which killed about 12,000 people, loom large — but they are far from common. Many were unsure how to react.
It did not help that the old city of Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is full of close-knit buildings, uneven cobblestone streets and intricate passageways enchanting to visit but a poor place to shelter.
Lorang and hundreds of others found refuge in a courtyard, where some brought out rugs and blankets to sleep. Others tried desperately to call friends or family.
People were rushing past, there were grandparents in their wheelchairs, tourists rushing to the airport, she said. It was very chaotic.
Ait Chari said he was supposed to pick up more clients on Sunday but was unsure if flights would be maintained. Still, he was optimistic.
Tourism accounted for more than 7% of Morocco’s gross domestic product and 565,000 jobs before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Recovery may be more of a challenge than the COVID reopening. There were signs on Saturday morning of damage at cultural sites, with images of rubble on the streets of the Jemaa el-Fnaa, the main square in Marrakech’s historic centre.
Videos of the 12th-century city walls showed some gates partly collapsed.
Jean-Baptiste Guinet, the French owner of a boutique hotel in Taroudant, near the epicentre, said it was too early to know what would happen to his business, although no customers had cancelled so far.
Many people were still in shock, he said, but there had also been “great solidarity,” as residents cleared roads.
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