The earth shook on the night of September 8 to 9 in Morocco. The first reports show several hundred deaths and injuries. Historically, the Maghreb has not been spared from tragedies of this type. With its intense seismic activity, the region has already experienced numerous tragedies.
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A nighttime nightmare. This is what Moroccans living in the Marrakech area experienced, hit on Friday September 8 around 11 p.m. (local time) by an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale. The earthquake caused significant damage and the authorities fear a terrible human toll.
While the international community expresses its emotion and says it is ready to help the kingdom, painful memories rise to the surface. In this region of the world, earthquakes have already damaged populations on numerous occasions. The north of the Maghreb is indeed located on the border of tectonic plates. The result is significant seismic activity: according to the media Middle East Eyethere are no less than 50 earthquakes in North Africa every month.
The vast majority of these earthquakes are harmless, and even imperceptible to humans as their magnitude is low. But a few, in the contemporary era, have left their mark on people with their mortality and the damage caused.
In Agadir, where the earthquake of September 8, 2023 was felt, some undoubtedly had reminiscences of this disastrous February 29, 1960: an earthquake sowed death and almost completely destroyed the city. Between 12,000 and 15,000 people died in this earthquake. Agadir was rebuilt little by little in the years that followed, always with this memory in mind.
Algeria has seen its share of tragedies too. El-Asnam (renamed Chlef) has experienced two deadly earthquakes in less than thirty years. The first, in September 1954, left around 1,500 dead. The second, in October 1980, cost the lives of an estimated 3,000 people.
More recently, on May 21, 2003, the regions of Boumerdès and Algiers were affected by an earthquake of extreme intensity. It left more than 2,200 dead and caused a divide between the population and the power of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, accused of having failed in his duty to help and assist the victims.
