On Friday night, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake took place in the Atlas Mountains, about 72 kilometres outside Marrakech. Residents and tourists alike were left standing in the streets as buildings collapsed or were severely damaged by the quake.
As the old city area was the most affected, people rushed to the outskirts of Marrakech to take refuge wherever they could. Several establishments opened their doors to the survivors, including Cristiano Ronaldo’s Pestana CR7 4-star hotel.
We are in a lobby a lot of people of different nationalities, waiting to see if we can get a room, but we have all slept on the street.
Irene Seixas, Spanish tourist in Marrakech
“We had to come to the new area of Marrakech, where there are more luxury hotels, so to speak”, Irene Seixas, a Spanish tourist, explained to RTVE. “Now we have managed to get Cristiano Ronaldo’s hotel, which is on the outskirts, to give us a room. We are waiting. We have slept all night on the street and at seven in the morning they told us that yes, we could approach. We are in a lobby a lot of people of different nationalities, waiting to see if we can get a room, but we have all slept on the street.”
Other football personalities also jumped to the aid of those affected, the Moroccan national team lining up to donate blood on Saturday. “At the moment, the priority is giving blood for those in critical condition. Donating blood is each person’s responsibility to save as many lives as possible. Your help is vital”, defender Achraf Hakimi wrote on X / Twitter.
Across Marrakech, every suitable space has been converted into emergency shelters for those who lost their homes, with beds being set up not only in public buildings that were left unscathed by the earthquake, but also in city squares and even roundabouts.
While people in the city are able to access aid more easily, access is challenging for emergency responders trying to reach villages closer to the epicentre in the mountains, places that are “already difficult” to get to “before you compound that with difficulties like rubble or problems with roads”, according to Stanford University Morocco expert, Samia Errazzouki, in the Guardian.
The death toll of what has become Morocco’s deathliest earthquake in decades has risen above 2,000 victims. Additionally, at least 31,400 people with injuries have been recorded, of which 1,220 are in critical condition.
