EFL
A powerful earthquake killed around 450 people in northern Morocco on Tuesday, toppling mud-brick homes and burying residents in their sleep under tons of rubble. Warning that the death toll could still rise, the state news agency MAP said 447 people were killed and 250 injured in poor mountain villages around the Mediterranean port city of Al Hoceima. In the village of Ait Kamara, 11 miles to the south, many houses were flattened like cardboard boxes. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale and struck at around 2:30 a.m. when people were asleep. Dozens of aftershocks and rain complicated relief efforts in the outlying villages in the foothills of the Rif mountains in a predominantly Berber area. |