Late Friday, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Morocco 77 kilometers (48 miles) southwest of the city of Marrakesh. According to seismologists, the power of the earthquake was equivalent to that of 25 nuclear bombs.
Earlier reports said 1,305 were killed and 1,832 others injured.
In addition to the updated number of those killed and injured, the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI declared three day of national mourning on Saturday. Earlier in that same day, the king chaired a meeting in the royal palace in Rabat in connection with the disaster. He instructed officials to takes measures to address the situation.
He also ordered the provision of assistance to all those left homeless and immediate establishment of an inter-ministerial committee tasked with preparing a program for reconstruction of destroyed homes in the earthquake-hit areas.
During the mourning period, the national flag will be flown at half-staff on all public buildings.
Eyewitnesses reported to Sputnik that they are too afraid to return to their homes, and are staying on the streets for fear of aftershocks.
“Houses that were not demolished by the earthquake were so damaged that people could not stay in them due to the extent of the damage they suffered. And hundreds of people died under their houses, which collapsed on them in a matter of seconds before they could run out into the street,” Marrakesh resident Fatima Zahra al-Rashid told Sputnik.
“There are a lot of people whose fate is unknown. [No one knows] whether they died or were injured... rescue and recovery operations are still ongoing. This is a catastrophe that defies any description," she said, adding that once everything started intensely shaking, people tried to run out of their houses, but a lot of people could not get out as the houses collapsed on them.
Moroccan authorities have called on citizens in the cities of Marrakesh and Demnat to donate blood in order to help the injured with their recovery.