By: Sophie Hull and Caleigh Ward '27
A recent earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 left Morocco in havoc after taking more than 2,500 lives; departing from the country late in the evening on September 8th after creating chaos and ruin. This earthquake hit the town of Oukaïmedene in the Atlas Mountains, a rural area about 50 miles southwest of Marrakech. It is the biggest earthquake to hit Morocco in the last 120 years.
The initial strike was deadly, but there are still effects lingering. The quake struck at a time when most families and children would have been home in bed, the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, noted.
The quake had a depth of about 16 miles, which the agency considers to be relatively shallow. However, due to its shallow depth and its proximity to high population centers, many buildings have experienced a ton of shaking which resulted in catastrophic failure.
Not only do emergency services have to worry and work around the clock to find citizens still missing, but aftershocks are a massive concern to all. There was one aftershock with a magnitude of 4.9, 20 minutes after the main shock, and it was felt as far as Portugal, Spain, and Algeria. Smaller aftershocks continued to occur throughout the days following; leaving Morocco in even more destruction. It is said that “they will continue for weeks to come” (USGS).
Along with the aftermath the earthquake left behind, rescue teams have to quickly find survivors to provide citizens with food, water, and shelter. Many citizens are sleeping on the streets due to the fear of their homes caving in. A lot of villages have lost food supply, and Moroccans are starving to death because of the earthquake.
Scientists stated that this particular earthquake was the result of oblique reverse faulting which is a fault that displays the features of both dip-slip and strike-slip motions that when hanging walls inside of the earth slide over footwalls as a result of compressional forces bring the walls together.
As Jesús Galindo-Zaldivar, a professor of geodynamics at Universidad de Granada, told The Conversation, “The phenomenon occurs when tectonic plates collide, causing stress to build on a fault line as the Earth's crust thickens. When rocks abruptly shift to release the stress, it can cause an earthquake.”
“This is a really terrible thing, and I feel like it’s not very mainstream,” Freshman NHS student Lexi Young said after being asked how she felt about the devastating news. For such a solemn event, the news coverage doesn’t do the earthquake justice. Many students who were asked about the earthquake had no idea it was happening.
“I have no clue what that is,” Freshman Chloe Minter stated about the earthquake. Minter was one of the multiple students who had never heard anything about the earthquake.
“It has been very devastating to the country, and it is an incident that is going to be felt for a very long and hard time. My thoughts go out to all of the families and the victims that have been affected. I feel very bad that they are going to have to deal with some of the tragedies that they are facing because of the earthquake,” NHS Security Guard Michael Delivichio adds.
While the physical effects of the earthquake will eventually be fixed, the effects of the earthquake will forever be engraved in the minds of the survivors. Many citizens lost friends, family, and neighbors to the devastating disaster.
The death toll increases every day as more people are found underneath rubble. Along with the death count, there are also thousands of injured citizens who need medical attention before they add to the death toll. Countries such as the United States and other European countries have sent emergency teams to help with the distress in Morocco.
“I feel like natural disasters are very bad for the environment. Not only do they destroy humans, but they also destroy animals and basically all living things on earth,” NHS Senior student Loren Thompson said.
Not only did the earthquake destroy human life, but the environment itself was destroyed as well. Moroccan citizens reported seeing “massive chunks of the mountain come down, smashing into these villages” (Aljazeera). Village roads are demolished, preventing emergency teams from even accessing parts that were affected. The villages have become rubble, leaving their imprint on the land.
“I think that it's very sad because it killed a bunch of people and families,” Freshman Natalie DelCampo stated.
Although not everyone knew about the earthquake itself, the dull mood remained with every conversation pertaining to it. All of the students that hadn’t heard about the earthquake were shocked that such a tragedy happened. With so many people’s lives ruined, it’s hard to feel anything but sadness for the citizens of Morocco.
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