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Washington:
According to the US Geological Survey, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck southwestern Marrakesh, Morocco, late Friday night. The shocks were quite strong. The quake struck at 11:11 pm (2211 GMT) 44 miles (71 kilometers) southwest of Marrakesh at a depth of 18.5 kilometers.
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Local media reported that at least 31 people were killed after a powerful earthquake hit Morocco on Friday night.
The report, citing local sources, said 27 people were killed in the area of the tourist city of Marrakech, 320 km south of the capital Rabat, and four others died in Ouarzazate province in the south.
According to videos posted on social media, the shock caused goods to fall off the shelves. Also many houses have collapsed. The USGS’s pager system, which provides an early assessment of the earthquake’s impact, has issued an orange alert for economic damage, which estimates the potential for significant damage.
“The region’s population lives in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking,” the USGS said. Due to its location between the African and Eurasian plates, the northern region of Morocco is prone to earthquakes.
In 2004, an earthquake in El Hoceima in northeastern Morocco killed at least 628 people and injured 926. The magnitude 7.3 Al Asnam earthquake in neighboring Algeria in 1980 was the largest and most destructive earthquake in recent history. It killed 2,500 people and left at least 300,000 homeless.
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