President Jokowi expresses deep condolences for Moroccan quake victims

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) expressed his deep condolences for the Moroccan people following a devastating 6.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday (September 8, 2023) evening local time.

“I offer my deepest condolences to the Moroccan people following the tragic earthquake,” President Widodo posted on his official account on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The post was accessed from here on Saturday night.

The thoughts and prayers of the Indonesian people are with the victims, victims’ families, and all parties affected by the earthquake, Widodo said.

The 6.9-magnitude earthquake shook Morocco at 11:14 p.m. local time on Friday. The areas affected by the earthquake comprised Al-Haouz, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua, and Taroudant Provinces.

At least 820 people were killed and 672 others injured in the powerful earthquake, Morocco’s Interior Ministry reported on Saturday.

The earthquake was the strongest to hit the North African country in the last century, Morocco’s National Geophysical Institute said.

According to a report from the Anadolu news agency, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake’s epicenter was located 75 kilometers southeast of Marrakech at a depth of 18.5 kilometers.

Videos on social media captured the immediate aftermath and showed residents spilling out onto the streets.

The situation was said to be particularly dire in the Marrakech region, where numerous buildings were said to have collapsed, trapping residents under debris.

Local media reports said that some buildings, including the famous red walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage, were damaged in the temblor.

The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces urged citizens to exercise caution and directed them toward safe areas to shield them from aftershocks.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), in its analysis, said that the earthquake had a thrust fault source mechanism, reflecting the compressive stress that occurred in the tectonic zone of the earthquake source.