List of earthquakes in Morocco

2023

2016

2004

1969

1960

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Epicentres of major earthquakes in Morocco with year of occurrence since 1900

This is a list of significant earthquakes that either had their epicentres in Morocco or had a significant impact in the country.

Seismicity in Morocco

Northern Morocco lies close to the boundary between the African plate and the Eurasian plate, the Azores–Gibraltar transform fault. This zone of right-lateral strike-slip becomes transpressional at its eastern end, with the development of large thrust faults. To the east of the Strait of Gibraltar, in the Alboran Sea, the boundary becomes collisional in type. Most of the seismicity in Morocco is related to movement on that plate boundary, with the greatest seismic hazard in the north of the country, close to the boundary. ^[1]

Earthquakes

Date	Region	MMI	Mag.	Deaths	Injuries	Note	Ref
2023-09-08	Marrakesh-Safi	IX	6.8 Mw	2,960	5,674	Extreme damage	[2] [3]
2019-11-17	Drâa-Tafilalet	VI	5.2 Mw			Various houses damaged in Midelt	[4]
2016-01-25	Al Hoceima	V	6.3 Mw	1	15	Moderate damage	[5]
2007-02-12	Portugal, Morocco		6.0 Mw			Minor damage	[6]
2004-02-24	Al Hoceima	IX	6.3 Mw	628–631	926	Severe damage
1992-10-23	Errachidia	VI	5.5 Mw	2		Damage in Erfoud and Rissani [7]
1969-02-28	Portugal, Morocco	VII	7.8 Mw	13	80	Moderate damage
1960-02-29	Agadir	X	5.8 Mw	12,000–15,000	12,000	Extreme damage
1909-01-29	Tétouan			100			[8]
1761-03-31	Portugal, Morocco, Spain	VII-IX	8.5 Ms	Unknown	Unknown	Tsunami
1755-11-27	Meknes	IX	6.5–7.0 Mw	15,000		Severe damage	[9]
1755-11-01	Portugal, Morocco, Spain	VII–VIII	7.7–9.0 Mw	Several thousand		Considerable damage / tsunami	[1]
1624-05-11	Fez	IX	6.0 Mw	Thousands		Extreme damage	[1]
1522-09-22	Spain, Morocco	VIII–IX		Several hundred		Severe damage – Epicenter in the Alboran Sea	[1]
Note: Only damaging, injurious, or deadly events are listed.

See also

• Geology of Morocco

References

1. Cherkaoui T-E. (2012). "Seismicity and Seismic Hazard in Morocco 1901-2010". Bulletin de l'Institut Scientifique, Rabat, section Sciences de la Terre. 34: 45–55.
2. "Devastating Earthquake in Morocco Claims 2,000 Lives and Leaves 1,500 Injured". chennaiprint.in. 2023-09-10. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
3. "Earthquake in Morocco causes structural damage, panic". HESPRESS English – Morocco News. 2023-09-08. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
4. "M 5.2 – 22 km SE of Amersid, Morocco". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
5. "M 6.3 – 50 km NNE of Al Hoceima, Morocco". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
6. "M 6.0 – Azores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
7. Bensaid, Ihsane; Cherkaoui, Taj-Eddine; Medina, Fida; Caldeira, Bento; Buforn, Elisa; Emran, Anas; Hahou, Youssef (2012). "The 1992 Tafilalt seismic crisis (Anti-Atlas, Morocco)". Journal of Seismology. 16 (1): 35–53. Bibcode:2012JSeis..16...35B. doi:10.1007/s10950-011-9248-5. S2CID   129291396.
8. "Comments for the 1909 earthquake". National Centers for Environmental Information . Retrieved 2019-06-26.
9. Poujol, A.; Ritz, J.-F.; Vernant, P.; Huot, S.; Maate, S.; Tahayt, A. (2017). "Which fault destroyed Fes city (Morocco) in 1755? A new insight from the Holocene deformations observed along the southern border of Gibraltar arc". Tectonophysics. 712–713: 303–311. Bibcode:2017Tectp.712..303P. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2017.05.036.