More than 1,000 people have died and another 672 have been injured due to an earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale registered in the province of Al Haouz, according to the country’s Ministry of the Interior. Philip VI has reacted to the tragedy with a message to Mohammed VI: “Dear brother: I am devastated.”
Below, we reproduce the full message from His Majesty the King:
“Your Majesty, dear brother:
I am desolate upon receiving the news of the violent earthquake that has affected the town of Ighil and the southwest of your country and that has caused a very high number of fatalities and injuries and I wish to convey to you, in my name, in that of the Government and in that of the Spanish people, our deepest feeling of pain for the terrible consequences of this disaster as well as our deepest condolences.
The Queen joins me in expressing our solidarity most sincere with the beloved Moroccan people and our support, appreciation and closeness to the families of the victims in these moments of mourning and uncertainty, along with our best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery of all those injured.
With great affection and my brotherly hug, Felipe R.”
Message from His Majesty the King to His Majesty the King of Morocco. pic.twitter.com/qwMtzpZgVg
— House of HM the King (@CasaReal) September 9, 2023
Earthquake
The Moroccan Armed Forces and Emergency and Civil Protection services continue to mobilize resources to care for the injured and affected and try to rescue people trapped under the rubble as authorities analyze the severity of the damage.
The director of the National Institute of Geophysics (ING), Nacer Jabour, has ruled out the possibility of secondary earthquakes occurring during the next few hours, according to information from the newspaper The morning.