This is a once in a generation earthquake for Morocco. The U.S Geological survey timed the quaker just after 11 o’clock local time on Friday night. It measured magnitude of 6.8 with an epicentre near the town of Adasil in the high Atlas Mountain.
An Aftershock with a magnitude of 4.9 was recorded just 19 minutes later. The main shock was relatively shallow just 11 and half miles below the surface. As a result, is likely to have caused damage across a wide area.
Scientific maps released by U.S Scientists show intense shaking would have affected hundreds of square miles. In Marrakech around 50 miles to the North, some buildings were reduced to Ruble the Old City walls were damaged and it was felt in Casablanca around 160 miles away. The Epicenter was around 3050 miles south of the boundary between the tectonic plate that Africa sites on The Eurasian plate hat supports Europe and Asia.
The Two plates are moving roughly 24 milometers or an inch every year relative to each other with immense pressure being released in juddering seismic shocks. But such strong earthquakes are rare in Morocco. The Poor construction can result in many deaths. In 2004, a magnitude 6.3 quake in EI Hachiman on the Mediterranean Coast caused more than 600 deaths. And in 1960 between 12000 and 15000 people died in a magnitude 5.8 quake near Agadir.
Survivors of the current earthquake are likely to experience further aftershocks which could cause weakened buildings to collapse but they’re likely to become less frequent and less intense over the coming days.