Morocco earthquake kills at least 150, levels town

A strong earthquake shook northern Morocco early yesterday, killing at least 150 people, and perhaps as many as 300, around the Mediterranean port city of Al Hoceima, officials said.

A civil defense spokesman in Al Hoceima said the village of Ait Kamara, 14km to the south, was "completely destroyed" and "there are many dead."

"So far rescue workers have found 15 bodies in that village alone," he said. Most houses in the village were built of mud bricks and collapsed.

Two other villages, Im-Zouren and Bni-Hadifa, were badly hit.

A large-scale rescue operation involving army and navy troops was under way.

In Al Hoceima, residents jumped out of their beds and rushed into the streets when the quake struck at around 2:30am.

But damage in the fishing port and beach resort of about 70,000 inhabitants, which was founded by Spaniards in 1926, was slight.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. A magnitude of 6 can cause severe damage.

Morocco's MAP state news agency put the magnitude of the tremor at 5 and said it was felt in the areas of Al Hoceima, the tourist city of Fez in the interior and Taza.

USGS spokesman Butch Kinerney said the quake's epicenter was in the Strait of Gibraltar separating Morocco and Spain, and about 300km northeast of the Moroccan capital Rabat.

"We could see the potential for some fairly significant damage from this earthquake," he said.

Kinerney said there had been hundreds of small tremors in the North African region since 1990, but this was the biggest since one of 6 struck in 1994 near Al Hoceima.