One of the Saddest Aspects of the Morocco Earthquake that has killed over 2000 people so far is what Jesus Predicted when He said: “THE LOVE OF MANY SHALL WAX COLD.” Daniel Whyte III said many of us were shocked and disappointed today when we heard the news that over 2000 people were killed from this earthquake and how the news reporter went right into a happy story regarding pets, the up-coming Dallas Cowboys game, or some on-air joke between the anchors. THIS IS THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE : “THE LOVE OF MANY HAS WAXED COLD,” and sad to say, even among people who claim to be Christians.

Relatives were desperately trying to contact three Britons who were staying in Imlil, a remote village in the mountains near the epicentre. Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, the family of Rebecca Calvert, 65, from Windsor, pleaded with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly for help.

Ms Calvert was staying with her friend Hilary McKegney at the Hotel Le Village du Toubkal. Her daughter Katie told Mr Cleverly: ‘We are sick with worry and need your help in finding her and bringing her home safely. Please urgently send British resources to the specific region and urgently provide an update on their whereabouts.’

Another British woman appealed for information on X, writing: ‘My sister and her family are there and I have no news at all about Imlil nor from them.’ Alice Morrison, a British author who lives in Imlil, described the moment the quake struck, writing on her blog: ‘I can hear shouts and screams. One is my own. I am alone in the dark on the moving ground.’

Helen Morris, 37, from Neath, South Wales, and her friend Amy Pritchard, 37, were at the Riu Tikida Garden hotel in Marrakech when paintings fell off the walls. ‘We dived underneath the desk until everything stopped moving… for 30 to 40 seconds,’ Ms Morris said.

Shannon Nolan, 31, from Bristol, who was staying at the Aqua Mirage Marrakech with her sister, their mother and their six children, said: ‘The bed was shaking, the wardrobe was rocking, the TV came off the wall and the mirror in the bathroom smashed. When I stood up to walk it was like I was at sea.’

Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, said he expected the death toll to rise.

Moroccans and foreign tourists alike are queuing outside blood donation points to give blood in an effort to assist emergency workers.

In historic Marrakech, people could be seen on state TV clustering in the streets , afraid to go back inside buildings that might still be unstable. The city’s famous Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, was damaged, but the extent was not immediately clear. Its 226-foot) minaret is known as the ‘roof of Marrakech.’ Moroccans also posted videos showing damage to parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Most damage occurred outside of cities and towns, and the United States Geological Survey warned that the death toll was likely to rise significantly, because rural buildings were not built to sustain such earthquakes.

Those in the city posted videos showing buildings reduced to rubble and dust, and parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city in Marrakesh damaged.

 

In the village of Amizmiz, some 40 miles south of Marrakech, rescue workers picked through the rubble.

‘When I felt the earth shaking beneath my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my kids out. But my neighbours couldn’t,’ said Mohamed Azaw.

‘Unfortunately no one was found alive in that family. The father and son were found dead and they are still looking for the mother and the daughter.’

The Red Cross has warned the next 24 to 48 hours are critical to saving lives of those trapped in rubble across the region, Sky News reports.

Some of the worst affected areas are remote and mountainous, creating additional hardships for rescuers.

Carol Holt, global head of operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said: ‘We know what to expect. There’s the need for the dignified management of dead bodies. There’s the need to provide people with safe water.

‘We need to make sure we don’t have a disaster within a disaster. Hygiene really needs to be maintained.

‘The next 24 to 48 hours will be critical in terms of saving lives.’

The IFRC is carrying out a review of the crisis and is preparing to send out its emergency response teams.

The organisation’s regional director Dr Hossam Elsharkawi said the response could even take years to the disaster could last for ‘many months if not years’.

‘This will not be a week or two of response as our region has seen with the big Turkeyt and Syrian earthquakes earlier this year,’ he said.

Hamid Idsalah, a 72-year-old mountain guide, said he and many others remained alive but had little future to look forward to. He said was true both in the short term – with remnants of his kitchen reduced to dust – and in the long term, where he and many others lack the financial means to rebuild their lives.

‘I can’t reconstruct my home. I don’t know what I’ll do. Still, I’m alive, so I’ll wait,’ he said as he walked through the desert oasis town overlooking red rock hills, packs of goats and a glistening salt lake. ‘I feel heartsick.’

About 20 men including firefighters and soldiers in fatigues stood atop the ruin of a house in Amizmiz as they tried to remove rubble, bits of carpet and furniture protruding from gaps between pancaked concrete floors.

There are warnings the strong quake means it will take time to reach mountain villages and other smaller settlements outside of Morocco’s cities, meaning the true extent of the damage and people harmed remains unknown.

Morocco today declared three days of national mourning after the deadly earthquake, an announcement from the royal palace said.

‘Three days of national mourning have been decided, with flags to fly at half-mast on all public buildings,’ said a statement published by the official MAP news agency after King Mohamed VI chaired a meeting to discuss the disaster.

World leaders offered to send in aid or rescue crews as condolences poured in from countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Group of 20 summit in India. The president of Turkey, which lost tens of thousands of people in a massive earthquake earlier this year, was among those proposing assistance. France and Germany, with large populations of people of Moroccan origin, also offered to help, and the leaders of both Ukraine and Russia expressed support for Moroccans.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak released a statement which said: ‘My thoughts are with everyone affected by the terrible earthquake in Morocco last night. The UK stands ready to support our Moroccan friends.’

The Interior Ministry urged calm, saying in its televised statement on the death toll that the quake had hit the provinces of Al Haouz, Ouarzazate, Marrakech, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant. Officials added that most of those killed will be in hard to reach settlements outside of the cities.

A British journalist living in Morocco described waking up to the sound of his wife screaming as the quake shook their home.

Martin Jay told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he had just settled into sleep when the tremor struck.

‘The first hint was my wife screaming,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t quite equate the situation, I couldn’t imagine I was in the middle of an earthquake.

‘Everything was vibrating, everything, the bed, the floor, the four walls.’

Part of their home was damaged by the earthquake, with some of the brick walls collapsing from the tremors.

Speaking to BBC, Jane Felix-Richards, from Cardiff, said they were in the foyer of the hotel when they heard a ‘deep rumble that got increasingly louder’.

‘The whole building started to violently shake, chandeliers were swinging, plaster was coming off the walls, glasses were being smashed,’ she said.

 

She said she thought a bomb had gone off and told her family to run.

The hotel has since said they can stay there, but Ms Felix-Richards said the walls do not look safe and instead slept on sun loungers.

Rather than return to concrete buildings, men, women and children stayed out in the streets worried about aftershocks and other reverberations that could cause their homes to sway.