Earthquake In Morocco

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Morocco Hit by Powerful Earthquake
Kerry Sheridan
Cairo
24 Feb 2004, 09:19 UTC


A powerful earthquake in northern Morocco has killed at least 20 people and injured dozens more. The tremor struck Tuesday in the early morning hours near the Mediterranean port city, Al Hoceima, some 300 kilometers northeast of the Moroccan capital.
According to seismologists in the United States and Europe, the quake measured between six-point-one and 6.5 on the Richter scale and was centered in the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Morocco from Spain.

A local official says the earthquake destroyed at least one village and caused serious damage to another. Many of the houses in the devastated villages are built of mud bricks.

Officials say Tuesday's tremor was the most severe in Morocco in ten years.

More news:

Moroccan Quake May Have Killed Up to 300 People, LCI Reports


Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- At least 82 people are confirmed dead and as many as 300 may have died in a 6.5-magnitude earthquake in northern Morocco, France's LCI television reported, citing Moroccan officials.

The earthquake struck near the port of Al Hoceima on the Strait of Gibraltar, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. The quake occurred at 2:27 a.m. Moroccan time, all-news LCI said.

The tremor destroyed the village of Ait Kamara, LCI said. The final toll could go as high as 300, LCI said, citing an unidentified local official interviewed by Reuters.

The last big earthquake in the area was in May 1994 and had a magnitude of 5.7, LCI said, citing France's earth sciences observatory in Strasbourg

This is sad, sad news. Poor people.

They dais today on the news, 500 died already