Friday night in the high Atlas mountains with an epicenter 45 miles southwest of Marrakech a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck killing over 2681 and injuring over 2501 persons, many critical. It has been over 100 years since such a powerful quake has hit the country. People are still too frightened to sleep inside even if they have a house standing. Countries from all over the world have volunteered and are sending aid to assist, including Spain, Britain, and Qatar.

King Mohammed VI ordered additional absentee prayers to be held in all mosques across Morocco after the noon prayers on Sunday. The US Geological Survey warned Morocco that it faces a red alert for economic losses and “past events with this alert level have required a national or international level response.” Landslides can be expected. Fortunately, the affected area is not highly populated. The total number of dead may not be determined for weeks. The majority of deaths were reported in Al Haouz province.

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• At least 2,000 killed by Moroccan earthquake