Powerful earthquake in Morocco kills more than 820 people

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Written by northsouth

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Published: 09 September 2023

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MARRAKECH, Morocco - A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing more than 800 people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech.

The earthquake destroyed buildings and sent residents of major cities rushing from their homes in the country's deadliest tremor in more than six decades.

But the full toll was not known as rescuers struggled to get through boulder-strewn roads to the remote mountain villages hit hardest.

State television showed people clustered in the streets of Marrakech late at night, afraid to go back inside buildings that might still be unstable.

The magnitude-6.8 quake was the hardest to hit Morocco in 120 years, and it toppled buildings and walls in ancient cities made from stone and masonry that was not designed to withstand quakes.

The quake struck in Morocco's High Atlas mountains late on Friday night. The Interior Ministry said 820 people had been killed and another 672 injured, in an updated casualty toll. A local official said most deaths were in mountain areas that were hard to reach.

In Marrakech, the nearest big city to the epicentre, residents spent the night in the open, afraid to go home.

In Marrakech, the famous Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, suffered damage, but the extent was not immediately clear. Its 69-meter (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.

Buildings in the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, suffered damage. A mosque minaret had fallen in Jemaa al-Fna Square, the heart of Marrakech's old city. Rescue workers dug through the rubble.

"Everything is by God's will, but we sustained great harm," said Miloud Skrout, a resident.

At least 820 people died, mostly in Marrakech and five provinces near the quake’s epicenter, and another 672 people were injured, Morocco’s Interior Ministry reported Saturday morning. Of the injured, the ministry wrote, 205 were seriously hurt.

Rescuers worked through the night, searching for survivors in darkness, dust and rubble.

Some 150 people, mostly relatives of the injured, were waiting outside a local hospital. Most had come from mountainous areas outside the city as their local hospitals lack capacity to treat serious injuries.

"I still can’t sleep in the house because of the shock and also because the old town is made up of old houses," said Jaouhari Mohamed, a resident of Marrakech old city, describing desperate scenes as people fled for safety.

"If one falls, it will cause others to collapse," he said.

An Australian tourist who gave her name as Tri said the room started shaking. "We just grabbed some clothes and our bags and we raced out," she said, clutching a pillow under her arm.

The Interior Ministry urged calm, saying in a televised statement that the quake had hit the provinces of Al Haouz, Ouarzazate, Marrakech, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant.

Montasir Itri, a resident of the mountain village of Asni near the epicentre, said most houses there were damaged. "Our neighbours are under the rubble and people are working hard to rescue them using available means in the village," he said.

Further west, near Taroudant, teacher Hamid Afkar said he had fled his home and felt aftershocks. "The earth shook for about 20 seconds. Doors opened and shut by themselves as I rushed downstairs from the second floor," he said.

Morocco's geophysical centre said the quake struck just after 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) in the Ighil area of the High Atlas.

It was Morocco's deadliest since 1960 when a tremor was estimated to have killed at least 12,000 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Ighil, a mountainous area with small farming villages, is about 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Marrakech.

Spanish television RTVE reported tremors from the earthquake were felt in Huelva and Jaen in Andalusia, southern Spain.

Governments around the world expressed solidarity and offered assistance. Turkey, where powerful earthquakes in February killed more than 50,000 people, said it was ready to provide support.

Marrakech is due to host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in early October.

MARRAKECH DAMAGE

In Marrakech, some houses in the tightly packed old city had collapsed and people used their hands to remove debris while they waited for heavy equipment, said resident Id Waaziz Hassan.

Footage of the medieval city wall showed big cracks in one section and parts that had fallen, with rubble lying on the street.

Another Marrakech resident, Brahim Himmi, said he saw ambulances coming out of the old town and many building facades damaged. He said people were frightened and were staying outside in case of another quake.

"The chandelier fell from the ceiling and I ran out. I'm still in the road with my children and we're scared," said Houda Hafsi, 43, in Marrakech.

Another woman there, Dalila Fahem, said there were cracks in her house and damage to her furniture. "Fortunately I hadn't gone to sleep yet," she said.

People in the capital city of Rabat, about 350 km north of Ighil, and in the coastal town of Imsouane, about 180 km to its west, also fled their homes, fearing a stronger quake, according to Reuters witnesses.

In Casablanca, some 250 km north of Ighil, people who spent the night in the streets were too scared to return to their homes.

"The house rocked aggressively, everyone was scared," said resident Mohamed Taqafi.

Videos shared on social media of the immediate aftermath of the quake, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed people fearfully running out of a shopping centre, restaurants and apartment buildings and congregating outside.
On the steep and winding switchbacks from Marrakech to Al Haouz, ambulances with sirens blaring and honking cars veered around piles of Mars-like red rock that had tumbled from the mountainside and blocked the road. Red Cross workers tried to clear a boulder blocking the two-lane highway.

Later Saturday morning in Marrakech, ambulances and motorcycles whirred by the edge of the old city, where business as usual mostly resumed Saturday morning. Tourists and passersby navigated roadblocks and snapped photos of sections of the clay ochre wall that had cracked, spilling fragments and dust onto the sidewalk and street.

Reactions from foreign governments to earthquake in Morocco

Following are reactions from foreign governments to the powerful earthquake that struck Morocco's High Atlas mountains late on Friday, killing hundreds and destroying buildings in the deadliest tremor to hit the country in decades.

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI, INAUGURATING A G20 SUMMIT IN NEW DELHI

"We pray that all the injured people get well soon. The entire world community is with Morocco in this difficult time and we are ready to provide them all possible assistance."

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN IN A MESSAGE TO MOROCCO'S KING MOHAMMED VI

"Please accept my sincere condolences on the tragic consequences of the devastating earthquake in the central regions of your country. Russia shares the worry and sorrow of the friendly people of Morocco. Please convey words of sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to all those who have suffered as a result of this natural disaster."

TURKISH PRESIDENT TAYYIP ERDOGAN

"We stand by our Moroccan brothers with all our means in this difficult day," he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In a separate statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Ankara was ready to provide all kinds of support "to heal the wounds of the earthquake in Morocco".

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK

"Awful images are reaching us from Morocco. Together with the people of Morocco, we mourn the victims of the terrible earthquake. Our thoughts are with them and all those who are searching for those buried in these hours and fighting for the lives of the many injured."

FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON

"We are all shocked after the terrible earthquake in Morocco. France stands ready to help first aid responses."

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER CATHERINE COLONNA

"Solidarity with Morocco and our friends, the Moroccan people after the night's terrible quake. Compassionate thoughts for the victims and their families and admiration for the work of rescue crews who relentlessly help the injured."

The Foreign Ministry later said in a statement: Our embassy in Morocco and the crisis center of the Ministry in Paris have opened crisis centers to respond to demands for information or help from our compatriots.

France stands in full support of authorities and people in Morocco during this ordeal and is ready to provide immediately its help for the rescue and assistance to the populations affected by this tragedy."

SPAIN'S ACTING PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ

"All my solidarity with the people of Morocco in the face of the terrible earthquake ... Spain stands with the victims of this tragedy and their families."

TAIWAN

Taiwan’s fire department says it has put a team of 120 rescuers on standby to go to Morocco who can go the moment they get instructions from Taiwan’s foreign ministry.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its sincere condolences to the government and people of Morocco, and to the families of the victims of this tragedy, as well as its wishes for a speedy recovery for all the injured.

SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER ULF KRISTERSSON

"Devastating earthquake in Morocco last night. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones."

‘It was hell’: Hostage freed after years in Africa recounts ordeal and frustration with US

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Written by northsouth

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Published: 20 June 2023

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By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON - The Islamic extremists drove up to the American missionary’s home in Niger under the cover of evening, gunning down two guards who stood watch. Jeff Woodke recalls seeing the muzzle blasts and hearing the screams before being thrown into a pickup truck that then sped away.

So began more than six years of captivity, a period in which he says he was beaten, locked in chains for hours a day and pressured repeatedly to convert to Islam and endured self-imposed hunger strikes.

“It was hell,” said Woodke, 62, who was released in March. “I think the hardest part was knowing that my family, if they were alive, they were suffering too.” As time progressed, he said, he began to feel that “it’s better for me to be dead than continue putting them through suffering. And that feeling grew and grew and grew. The last year I was there, I was asking them to kill me.”

But the ordeal, he and his wife say, was compounded by years of frustrating interactions with the U.S. government back home. They say they believe FBI officials withheld information about negotiations with the captors and provided what they felt was inadequate help and guidance about raising money for a ransom. The agitation boiled over in a Zoom call weeks before Woodke’s release when his wife, Els, said she vented to Secretary of State Antony Blinken about a ransom process she asserted favored the rich.

“I said, if it was you that had been kidnapped, you would be free in a week because your wife is free to take from your money and buy you free,” she recalled saying. “So because you are rich, you can pay the ransom. But a poor person is never able to do that.”

The Woodkes spoke recently to The Associated Press in a joint interview in which they shared previously unreported details about his captivity, the family’s conversations with U.S. officials and his more recent challenges reintegrating into society.

At a time when the plight of detained Americans is receiving unprecedented attention, the couple’s frustration shows the government’s uneven success in navigating relationships with hostage families, despite a 2015 policy overhaul designed to improve communications and to ease concerns that ransom payments could result in criminal prosecution. Their statements represent a rare public airing of the delicate and tense interactions that often precede a detainee’s release.

The FBI declined to address the Woodkes’ specific claims but said it had worked “tirelessly” to bring Woodke home and was happy he was reunited with his family: “We are committed to continuing to support Jeff and his family.” The State Department confirmed Blinken and Els Woodke had had multiple conversations but declined to discuss the substance.

American officials have said little about the circumstances of Woodke’s release, noting only that it was a collaborative effort and that the U.S. government did not pay a ransom or make other concessions. Woodke was freed alongside a French journalist, Olivier Dubois, even as other hostages remain in the area. Woodke was similarly circumspect, saying that he doesn’t know with certainty what led to his release but that he was recovered by French forces.

Woodke’s work as a missionary and aid worker in some ways made him a natural kidnapping target, especially in the vast, semiarid expanse below the Sahara Desert known as the Sahel, where Islamic extremists have long used abductions and ransom money to fund jihadi operations.

As a result, he had taken precautions over his three decades in the area, including maintaining contact with the State Department and local embassy about security risks.

Still, on the evening of Oct. 14, 2016, he was ambushed at home in Abalak, Niger, by extremists who killed two guards at the property. He said he tried to run but wound up being seized, dragged by the wrist, his body scraping against the ground, and tossed into a truck that drove toward the border with Mali.

He spent his captivity traded among extremist groups operating under the umbrella of JNIM, an al-Qaida-aligned insurgent organization. He kept track of time through a sundial during the day and stars at night, though he says he was given a watch near the end of his detention. He initially prayed eight hours a day. That amount dwindled as time passed, when he began praying for death.

He said he spent hours chained in isolation under a tree — “You ever had a lightning storm with chains on your feet? That’ll get you,” he said ruefully — and spent time in a tiny hut.

“When they were nice to me was only because they were preaching,” Woodke said. “They told me repeatedly, ‘We’ll be nice to you if you convert. The chains will come off if you convert.’”

Early in his captivity, he said he recorded the first of several proof-of-life videos for his family as his wife interacted with FBI crisis negotiators working the case.

But Els Woodke and the private hostage negotiator she was working with, Robert Klamser, said in the interview that they felt the FBI kept them at bay during negotiations, misleading them about the scope of demands and withholding information as they and a third-party government they did not identify worked to communicate with the militants and receive their conditions.

Klamser said they learned in 2021, belatedly, that the captors had demanded as part of the negotiations a ransom payment of 3 million euros and the release of prisoners from West African jails. He said negotiators acting without the family’s input succeeded in getting the demand for the prisoner release dropped, achieving on one hand a U.S. policy objective but also resulting in a doubled ransom demand of 6 million euros — an even more untenable amount for Els Woodke, a teacher’s assistant.

As she embarked on raising a ransom, she said she was told she was free to do so but had to personally approach potential donors, a requirement she considered overly burdensome. She said the FBI would not offer written reassurances that no one involved in raising the ransom would be prosecuted, which she and Klamser said was important for prospective donors.

She never paid a ransom, lamenting during a 2021 appearance in Washington that government “restrictions” had hindered her ability to raise a sufficient sum.

“I tried. I wrote letters personally to people, the people that I knew,” she said in the interview. “I tried because I wanted to try anything and not leave one stone unturned.”

The Obama administration, reacting to the beheading deaths of Western hostages by Islamic State operatives, crafted in 2015 a new policy meant to at least tacitly reassure families that though the U.S. government does not condone ransom payments, it also would not prosecute families who made them. While no families have faced charges, hostage relatives in surveys over the last decade have nonetheless cited lingering confusion over the policy.

The release, under circumstances neither the White House nor the French government fully explained, came March 20, when Woodke said he was driven in a Toyota pickup truck with Dubois, the French hostage, to the western border of Niger and set free. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described it as the culmination of “hard, gruelling, deliberate work.”

Woodke has returned home to McKinleyville, California, but adjustments have been hard. He’s grappling with leg injuries and steep bills for medical and dental treatment. Even something as simple as acquiring a driver’s license took months. He says he hasn’t felt sufficiently helped by the government, though he says the office of the State Department’s special envoy for hostage affairs has provided support. Klamser says there are plans to raise money from friends and supporters to offset the cost of mounting expenses.

“We’re not things, we’re not bargaining chips, we’re not cases — we’re people,” Woodke said. “We don’t want to sit under trees in chains. Our families don’t want to have to suffer.”

Kuwait: News outlet unveils presenter generated by artificial intelligence

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Published: 27 April 2023

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KOWEIT CITY - A Kuwaiti media outlet has unveiled a virtual news presenter generated using artificial intelligence, with plans for it to read online bulletins.

"Fedha" appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News website on Saturday as an image of a woman, her light-coloured hair uncovered, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt.

"I'm Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait who works with artificial intelligence at Kuwait News. What kind of news do you prefer? Let's hear your opinions," she said in classical Arabic.

The site is affiliated with the Kuwait Times, founded in 1961 as the Gulf region's first English-language daily.

Abdullah Boftain, deputy editor in chief for both outlets, said the move is a test of AI's potential to offer "new and innovative content".

In future Fedha could adopt the Kuwaiti accent and present news bulletins on the site's Twitter account, which has 1.2 million followers, he said.

"Fedha is a popular, old Kuwaiti name that refers to silver, the metal. We always imagine robots to be silver and metallic in colour, so we combined the two," Boftain said.

The presenter's blonde hair and light-coloured eyes reflect the oil-rich country's diverse population of Kuwaitis and expatriates, according to Boftain.

"Fedha represents everyone," he said.

Her initial 13-second video generated a flood of reactions on social media, including from journalists.

The rapid rise of AI globally has raised the promise of benefits, such as in health care and the elimination of mundane tasks, but also fears, for example over its potential spread of disinformation, threat to certain jobs, and to artistic integrity.

Kuwait ranked 158 out of 180 countries and territories in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 Press Freedom Index.