“Tourists were camping outside (in front of the airport) trying to get off the ground. Only a few were willing to stay,” the station’s reporter reported from the scene France24. Queues of tourists rushing to leave the earthquake-hit country were seen not only in Marrakesh, but also at other Moroccan airports, a British newspaper website reported Daily Mail with the addition that the air line itself appears to be operating normally.

The situation is much worse for a number of Moroccans who have nowhere to return to after Friday’s earthquake, or are afraid to go into their still-standing homes because it is unclear how stable their homes are now. According to France24, hundreds of people spent the night in Jami al-Faná, the main square of Marrakesh’s old city. “There is a big fear of another aftershock,” the station reported.

Among those who spent the night on the streets on the second night was, for example, Mohammed Ajat Elhaj, 51, who fled his home with his family after discovering cracks in the walls following Friday’s earthquake. “I couldn’t sleep there. I asked the authorities to help me and send an expert who could assess whether I could return home or not,” he told the agency. Reuters after spending the second night on the streets of Marrakesh with his family.

A powerful earthquake measuring up to 7.2 on the Richter scale struck southwestern Morocco on Friday evening. Although most of the victims and material damage, according to the first data, were in rural areas, the earthquake also destroyed the historic part of Marrakesh, which is on the UNESCO list. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the High Atlas Mountains south of Marrakesh. However, mountainous areas are difficult to access due to impassable roads, and the extent of the disaster is not known immediately after the earthquake.