More than 800 people died and several buildings were damaged by a rare, violent earthquake that slammed Morocco late on Friday night.
The damage ranged from communities in the Atlas Mountains to the ancient city of Marrakech. The earthquake sparked everyone up, and they fled into the streets in shock and fear.
People gathered in the streets of Marrakech late at night, frightened to enter buildings that could still be unstable, as seen on state television.
A man claimed he was in a neighboring flat building when plates and wall hangings started falling, throwing people off their chairs and their feet. A woman said that an "intense vibration" caused her to leave her home.
The magnitude-6.8 earthquake, which devastated historic cities composed of stone and masonry that was not built to resist quakes, was the strongest to strike Morocco in 120 years.
According to the Moroccan Interior Ministry's early-morning estimate on Saturday, there were at least 820 fatalities, most of whom were in Marrakech and five other regions.
There were also 672 injuries. The government reported that 205 of the victims were critically harmed. Rescuers continued their search for survivors into the night amid the gloom, dust, and debris.
Ambulances with sirens blasting and honking automobiles steered past masses of red rock that resembled Mars that had fallen from the slope and obstructed the road as it wound its way from Marrakech to Al Haouz.