MOULAY BRAHIM, Morocco: Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades has killed more than 1,000 people, authorities said Saturday, as troops and emergency services scrambled to reach remote mountain villages where casualties are still feared trapped. The 6.8-magnitude quake struck late Friday in a mountainous area 72 km southwest of tourist hotspot Marrakesh, the US Geological Survey reported.

Updated interior ministry figures on Saturday showed the quake killed at least 1,037 people, the vast majority in Al-Haouz, the epicenter, and Taroudant provinces. Another 1,204 people were injured, including 721 in critical condition, the ministry said. Foreign leaders expressed their condolences and many offered assistance. Neighbor and regional rival Algeria announced it was suspending a two-year-old ban on all Moroccan flights through its airspace to enable aid deliveries and medical evacuations.

HH the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent on Saturday a cable of condolences to Moroccan King Mohammad VI, expressing sorrow over the devastating earthquake. In the cable, HH the Amir expressed heartfelt solace for the victims and their families. He also wished for the swift recovery of those injured in the natural disaster. HH the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah also sent cables of condolences to the Moroccan king.

A resident navigates through the rubble in Marrakesh following the quake. — AFP photos

National Assembly Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun sent cables of condolences to the Moroccan parliament’s President of the House of Councilors Naam Miyara and President of the House of Representatives Rachid Talbi Alami, expressing to them his condolences over the recent devastating earthquake that their country.

The Kuwaiti government has also been informed of directives by HH the Amir Sheikh Nawaf to all concerned entities to prepare food supplies destined for “our brothers in the sisterly Kingdom of Morocco”. The government has assigned the ministry of foreign affairs to organize the dispatch of Kuwaiti relief supplies to Morocco in coordination with the ministry of finance and Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS).

Minister of Social Affairs Sheikh Feras Al-Sabah on Saturday instructed local charities to organize an urgent donation campaign to aid the victims of the Morocco earthquake, as per instructions of the political leadership. KRCS expressed readiness to dispatch assistance to the brotherly people of Morocco in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. KRCS Secretary General Maha Al-Barjas said the society contacted the Moroccan Red Crescent Society to offer solace over the fatalities and expressed wishes for the injured so they may recover soon. Barjas affirmed KRCS is fully ready to help the Moroccan people and secure necessities for the victims of the quake.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to Morocco Abdulatif Al-Yahya affirmed on Saturday that all Kuwaiti citizens in Morocco are safe and none were hurt in the quake. The envoy said the diplomatic mission contacted Moroccan authorities to ensure no Kuwaitis were among the victims. “All the information we have gathered affirm that all our citizens present in Morocco are safe,” he said.

With strong tremors also felt in the coastal cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira, the quake caused widespread damage and sent terrified residents and tourists scrambling to safety in the middle of the night. In the mountain village of Moulay Brahim near the quake’s epicenter, rescue teams searched for survivors in the rubble of collapsed houses while residents began digging graves for the dead on a nearby hill, AFP correspondents reported. The army set up a field hospital in the village and deployed “significant human and logistical resources” to support the rescue operation, state news agency MAP reported.

It was the strongest-ever quake to hit the North African kingdom, and one expert described it as the region’s “biggest in more than 120 years”. “Where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough... so many collapse, resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus at Britain’s University College London. Civil defense Colonel Hicham Choukri who is heading relief operations told state television the epicenter and strength of the earthquake have created “an exceptional emergency situation”.

Faisal Badour, an engineer, said he felt the quake three times in his building in Marrakesh. “There are families who are still sleeping outside because we were so scared of the force of this earthquake,” he said. “The screaming and crying was unbearable.” Frenchman Michael Bizet, 43, who owns three traditional riad houses in Marrakesh’s old town, told AFP he was in bed when the quake struck. “I thought my bed was going to fly away. I went out into the street half-naked and immediately went to see my riads. It was total chaos, a real catastrophe, madness,” he said.

Footage on social media showed part of a minaret collapsed on Jemaa el-Fna square in the historic city. An AFP correspondent saw hundreds of people flocking to the square to spend the night for fear of aftershocks, some with blankets while others slept on the ground. Mimi Theobold, 25, a tourist from England, said she was with friends on a restaurant terrace when the tables began shaking and plates went flying.

Houda Outassaf, a local resident, said she was “still in shock” after feeling the earth shake beneath her feet — and losing relatives. “I have at least 10 members of my family who died... I can hardly believe it, as I was with them no more than two days ago,” she said. Hotelier Bernard Curi said he had been thrown out of his bed by the force of the shock. “The shaking was so strong I couldn’t get back up again right away.”

The interior ministry said authorities have “mobilized all the necessary resources to intervene and help the affected areas”. The regional blood transfusion center in Marrakesh called on residents to donate blood for those injured. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation announced that a Cup of African Nations qualifier against Liberia, due to have been played on Saturday in the coastal city of Agadir, had been postponed indefinitely.

“We heard screams at the time of the tremor,” a resident of Essaouira, 200 km west of Marrakesh, told AFP. “Pieces of facades have fallen.” The USGS PAGER system, which provides preliminary assessments on the impact of earthquakes, issued a “red alert” for economic losses, saying extensive damage is probable. – Agencies