Three major seismic events hit Morocco in less than a century

The earthquake that sowed destruction and devastation in the Al-Haouz province, south of the tourist hub of Marrakech, late at night on September 8 2023, claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people while leaving more than 5,600 injured, according to official figures.

It was Morocco’s strongest ever quake, of magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale. A magnitude 4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later.

Most of the deaths occurred in the mountainous areas outside Marrakech, the nearest major city to the epicentre in the Al Haouz province.

Pictures of the disaster have immediately flooded social media platforms, with Moroccan citizens documenting the damages and requesting help.

The precise number of people left without homes by the quake, which has entirely devastated remote Amazigh villages in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains, is currently not known.

Damages have also been recorded in Unesco-listed historic media of Marrakech and Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou, in the Ouarzazate province, a striking example of the architecture of southern Morocco.

On 14 September, Moroccan authorities announced the launch of a national aid programme to support and rehouse the residents of approximately 5,000 buildings damaged or collapsed due to the quake.

A statement from the royal office underlined the urgency of providing people with temporary housing that would protect them from the challenging conditions of Moroccan winter in the region.

The tragedy triggered solidarity actions among aid organisations as well as private initiatives within and outside of the country.

For example, a group of US-based Moroccan academics has organised a GoFundMe campaign for rural victims, while a collective of artists raises funding for two local NGOs delivering critical on-the-ground assistance.

In a contested decision, so far Morocco has allowed rescue teams to come to its aid from a selected number of foreign countries, namely Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to date.

Moroccans are particularly concerned about how future reconstruction will be conducted and who will be entrusted with the task.

In the Atlas mountain region, traditional mud brick houses and more recent concrete constructions did not withstand the power of the earthquake and so, Morocco has now adopted a seismic regulation on the construction of buildings (the RPCT 2011).

Morocco is considered to be an intermediate tectonic zone. One region of seismicity lies offshore and to the north of Morocco, along the Azores-Gibraltar transform fault and the Alboran Sea.

Another is onshore, along the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco and the Tell Atlas in northwestern Algeria. Earthquakes along the High Atlas have been smaller in number, but not unusual.

Hundreds of earthquakes of different magnitudes are recorded annually by the National Institute of Geophysics. Although the majority of them go unnoticed, some are of significant magnitude causing strong earthquakes.

The earthquakes that hit the Moroccan port of Agadir in 1960, and that on the Mediterranean coastal city of Al Hoceima in 2004, are still alive in everyone's memory.

On the night of 24 February 2004, the area around the city of Al Hoceima was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale. Approximately 630 people were killed and 930 injured, and more than 2,500 buildings collapsed.

It was also one of the most devastating earthquakes in the Kingdom's history, leaving large parts of this northeastern city completely wiped out.

According to news reports, several aftershocks killed at least three more people and destroyed previously weakened buildings. The first tremor was followed by a hundred aftershocks, two of them particularly strong during the morning of February 25. These subsequently continued for weeks.

On 29 February 1969, another seismic event struck western Portugal and Morocco, killing 13 people (11 in Morocco and 2 in Portugal).

Damage to local buildings was "moderate", measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, it originated west of the Strait of Gibraltar.

This earthquake is remembered by Moroccans for having generated a small tsunami (1.20 m) in Casablanca, but above all for causing scenes of panic, nine years after the particularly deadly earthquake in Agadir.

On 29 February 1960, the port city of Agadir was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 on the Richter scale. Between 12,000 and 15,000 people (about a third of the city's population at the time) lost their lives and about 90% of the city was destroyed.

Another 12,000 were injured with at least 35,000 people left homeless, making it the most destructive and deadly earthquake in Moroccan history. This earthquake was so powerful it caused a tsunami, which further complicated the situation.

The cost of damages was estimated at the time to be between 70 and 120 million dollars, according to media reports. It was also the most destructive moderate-magnitude (less than 6) earthquake of the 20th century.

After this tragedy, King Mohamed V decided to rebuild the city further south and adapt it to anti-seismic construction standards, which had not happened before.

A city reconstruction program was launched. The city of Agadir as we know it today was then rebuilt, a little further south than the ancient settlement, to the mandatory seismic standards of the time. An investment of approximately 45 million dollars was required, and Morocco benefited with aid from France, Spain and the United States.

According to media reports, the ancient Citadel of Agadir Oufella has undergone restoration as part of the 2020-2024 Agadir Urban Development Programme.

Moroccan architect and anthropologist, Salima Naji, was entrusted with restoring the historical site. Against the use of concrete, she promotes ecological and bioclimatic construction. She has worked on several complex restoration projects, including that of Ksar Assa, Kasbah Aghennaj El Hahi of Tiznit, and many more.

Even further back, prior to the establishment of seismometers, several significant events were recorded in Morocco. Among them were the 1624 Fès earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 6.7, and the 1731 Agadir earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.4.

Elisa Pierandrei is an Italian journalist and author based in Milan. She writes and researches stories across art, literature, and visual media

Follow her on Twitter: @ShotOfWhisky