At ten o'clock at night, as usual, Fatima went to bed only to wake up an hour later feeling the bed shaking. She thought she was experiencing mild dizziness before the bed shook again, confirming that what was happening was an earthquake.

Fatima (66 years old) recounts the terrifying night, saying:

As soon as I felt the earthquake, my son, his wife, and I headed outside the house to find dozens of people spread along the sides of the road.
A state of panic and fear prevailed at that time in the city of Marrakech, as rumors mingled with reliable news about the number of victims, the epicenter of the tremor, its magnitude, and the expected aftershocks.
I was visiting my son in Marrakech (in the south of the country), and the first thing that came to my mind during the first few seconds of the earthquake was the Agadir earthquake that destroyed the city and claimed the lives of tens of thousands, including members of my family.
The fears of a repeat of the devastating earthquake are still present, which prompted many people to head north to cities that did not experience earthquakes last night.

Mohamed Zahimi, a specialist in geology and groundwater, says that Morocco's focus has gradually shifted since the devastating earthquake that struck the city of Agadir on February 29, 1960, followed by the earthquake in Al-Hoceima, towards strengthening the earthquake-resistant building system.

Zahimi adds that the areas that have experienced earthquakes in Morocco were not included in this system and that most of them are witnessing the spread of informal construction.

He emphasized that the epicenter of the earthquake on Friday night is on the same line as the Agadir earthquake of 1960, confirming that the difference between them lies in the fact that the epicenter of the latest earthquake was recorded in a mountainous area far from the city center.

He points out that the intensity of the earthquake, which reached 7 degrees on the Richter scale, is quite strong and destructive, which explains the extent of the damage in cities like Marrakech and Agadir, which are close to the epicenter of the earthquake, emphasizing that if the epicenter had been in the middle of Marrakech, it would have destroyed the city.