"Night of terror" in Morocco: Harrowing testimonies of survivors

According to the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST), this powerful and rare earthquake had a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was in the province of Al-Haouz, southwest of the tourist city of Marrakech. The provisional death toll is heavy: 820 people were killed, 672 others were injured, including 205 people in serious condition. "We spent a night in horror," testified Yacine Kourkouz, a resident of a fourth-floor apartment in Marrakech, to BFMTV.

When the earthquake struck, he was having dinner. Yacine said he thought his washing machine, which was running, was having a problem. "But as the tremors intensified, I realized it was an earthquake. That’s when the adrenaline took over. I left my apartment without even closing the door. At that moment, you think about your own life." Yacine blends into a crowd of residents. "Everyone was stunned," he recalls. Some were making phone calls. A "somewhat surreal" scene, according to the Marrakchi. "Then some people went back to their homes. But I would say that 40% of the residents of Marrakech preferred to spend the night outdoors under the stars, in public gardens, with a blanket. The risk of another aftershock was present," he confides. This witness can no longer return to his apartment. He is "afraid it will collapse."

Staying on the fifth floor of a hotel that "started to shake," Pierre, on vacation in Marrakech, tells the same media that he spent the night "in the anguish of the second aftershock" in the gardens of the residence with the other clients. "Many people were panicking, many people were crying," he recalls. The same feeling among the residents of Casablanca. "I don’t know if I should stay downstairs or go up. Honestly, it’s scary," says a Casablanca resident. This fear forced other residents of the city and her to spend the night outdoors.