A magnitude 3.9 aftershock yesterday rattled Moroccans as they prayed for victims of the nation’s strongest earthquake in more than a century and worked to rescue survivors, while soldiers and workers brought water and supplies to mountain villages in ruins.
More than 2,000 people are dead — a number that is expected to rise.
The UN estimated that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake and some Moroccans complained on social networks that the government was not allowing more help from outside. International aid crews were prepared to deploy, but remained in limbo waiting for the Morocco government to request their assistance.
Photo: Reuters
“We know there is a great urgency to save people and dig under the remains of buildings,” said Rescuers Without Borders founder Arnaud Fraisse, who had a team stuck in Paris waiting for approval. “There are people dying under the rubble, and we cannot do anything to save them.”
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a donation of US$500,000 to help with recovery and reconstruction.
The ministry said it has instructed the Taipei Representative Office in France to pass on Taiwan’s willingness to help to the Moroccan embassy and the Consulate General of Morocco in Paris.
Taiwan has no official diplomatic relations with Morocco and no office in the North African country so are unable to interact with it directly, the ministry said.
The donation is to be transferred through a third party in the hope that it can help people affected by the earthquake rebuild their homes and resume normal lives, it said.
The National Fire Agency’s special search-and-rescue teams have been mobilized and are ready to assist, it added.
Those left homeless — or fearing more aftershocks — from Friday night’s earthquake slept outside on Saturday, in the streets of Marrakesh or under makeshift canopies in Atlas Mountain towns such as Moulay Brahim, among the hardest-hit.
The worst destruction was in small, rural communities that are hard for rescuers to reach because of the mountainous terrain.
Those same areas were shaken anew yesterday by the aftershock, the US Geological Survey said.
It was not immediately clear if the temblor caused more damage or casualties, but it was likely strong enough to rattle nerves in areas where damage has left buildings unstable and people have spoken of their fears of aftershocks.
The earthquake on Friday toppled buildings not built to withstand such a quake, trapping people in the rubble and sending others fleeing in terror. A total of 2,012 people were confirmed dead and at least 2,059 more people were injured — 1,404 of them critically — the Moroccan Ministry of Interior said on Saturday night.
Additional reporting by Liu Tzu-hsuan
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
RSS