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On Friday evening, Morocco was hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake in the province of Al-Haouz, killing more than 2,000 people. While the seismic risk in this region was known, an earthquake of this magnitude was “unforeseeable”. FRANCE 24 talks with seismologist Florent Brenguier.
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The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Morocco struck on Friday, September 8, killing more than two thousand people, destroying many buildings and forcing residents to flee their homes.
The Rabat-based National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) reported the magnitude 7 earthquake’s epicentre in the province of Al-Haouz, in the Atlas Mountains southwest of Marrakech.
FRANCE 24 spoke with Florent Brenguier, a seismologist at Grenoble University’s Institut des Sciences de la Terre, to understand the tragedy.
In Morocco, the risk of earthquakes is concentrated in the north of the country. How do you explain such a powerful earthquake in the centre?
Florent Brenguier: It’s rare to have such large earthquakes in this area … It’s important to remember that the whole of Morocco, and the whole Mediterranean region in general, is susceptible to major earthquakes. However, the majority of earthquakes are concentrated where the African and European tectonic plates meet in the north of the country – particularly around the Strait of Gibraltar.
On the other hand, the entire mountainous Atlas region is still at risk. Even if earthquakes are rare, their magnitude can be significant. The most striking example is the Agadir earthquake in 1960, which killed 12,000 people and virtually destroyed the entire city.
There are significant faultlines in this area that have developed over thousands, tens, even hundreds of thousands of years. However, it is unusual to have such a large earthquake in an area that is not on a plate…
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