Aftershock rattles Morocco as rescuers seek survivors from quake that killed over 2,100

AMIZMIZ, Morocco — An aftershock rattled Moroccans on Sunday as they mourned victims of the nation’s strongest earthquake in more than a century and sought to rescue survivors while soldiers and aid workers raced to reach ruined mountain villages. The disaster killed more than 2,100 people — a number that is expected to rise.

The United Nations estimated that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake and some Moroccans complained on social networks that the government wasn’t allowing more outside help. International aid crews were poised to deploy, but some grew frustrated waiting for the government to officially request assistance.

“We know there is a great urgency to save people and dig under the remains of buildings,” said Arnaud Fraisse, founder of Rescuers Without Borders, who had a team stuck in Paris waiting for the green light. “There are people dying under the rubble, and we cannot do anything to save them.”

Help was slow to arrive in Amizmiz, where a whole chunk of the town of orange and red sandstone brick homes carved into a mountainside appeared to be missing. A mosque’s minaret had collapsed.

“It’s a catastrophe,’’ said villager Salah Ancheu, 28. “We don’t know what the future is. The aid remains insufficient.”

Residents swept rubble off the main unpaved road into town and people cheered when trucks full of soldiers arrived. But they pleaded for more help.

“There aren’t ambulances, there aren’t police, at least for right now,” Ancheu said.

Those left homeless — or fearing more aftershocks — slept outside Saturday, in the streets of the ancient city of Marrakech or under makeshift canopies in hard-hit Atlas Mountain towns like Moulay Brahim. The worst destruction was in rural communities that are hard to reach because the roads that snake up the mountainous terrain were covered by fallen rocks.

Those areas were shaken anew Sunday by a magnitude 3.9 aftershock, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It wasn’t immediately clear if it caused more damage or casualties, but it was likely strong enough to rattle nerves in areas where damage has left buildings unstable and residents feared aftershocks.

Friday’s earthquake toppled buildings not strong enough to withstand such a mighty temblor, trapping people in the rubble and sending others fleeing in terror. A total of 2,122 people were confirmed dead and at least 2,421 others were injured — 1,404 of them critically, the Interior Ministry reported.

Most of the dead — 1,351 — were in the Al Haouz district in the High Atlas Mountains, the ministry said.

Flags were lowered across Morocco, as King Mohammed VI ordered three days of national mourning starting Sunday. The army mobilized search and rescue teams, and the king ordered water, food rations and shelters to be sent to those who lost homes.

He also called for mosques to hold prayers Sunday for the victims, many of whom were buried Saturday amid the frenzy of rescue work nearby.

But Morocco has not made an international appeal for help like Turkey did in the hours following a massive quake earlier this year, according to aid groups.

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that it was accepting international aid from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. The Ministry said that Moroccan authorities have carefully assessed the needs on the ground, stressing that a lack of coordination would be counter-productive. The efforts will center on search and rescue.

But aid offers poured in from around the world, and the U.N. said it had a team in Morocco coordinating international support. About 100 teams made up of a total of 3,500 rescuers are registered with a U.N. platform and ready to deploy in Morocco when asked, Rescuers Without Borders said. Germany had a team of more than 50 rescuers waiting near Cologne-Bonn Airport but sent them home, news agency dpa reported.

A Spanish search-and-rescue team arrived in Marrakech and headed to the rural Talat N’Yaaqoub, according to Spain’s Emergency Military Unit. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in a radio interview that Moroccan authorities asked for help. Another rescue team from Nice, France, also was on its way.

Officials in the Czech Republic earlier said the country was sending about 70 members of a rescue team trained in searching through rubble after receiving an official request from the Moroccan government. Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said three military planes were prepared to transport the team.

In France, which has many ties to Morocco and said four of its citizens died in the quake, towns and cities have offered more than 2 million euros ($2.1 million) in aid. Popular performers are collecting donations.

The epicenter of Friday’s quake was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech. The region is known for scenic villages and valleys tucked in the High Atlas Mountains.

Devastation gripped each town along the High Atlas’ steep and winding switchbacks, with homes folding in on themselves and people crying as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.

”I was asleep when the earthquake struck. I could not escape because the roof fell on me. I was trapped. I was saved by my neighbors who cleared the rubble with their bare hands,” said Fatna Bechar in Moulay Brahim. “Now, I am living with them in their house because mine was completely destroyed.”

There was little time for mourning as survivors tried to salvage anything from damaged homes.

Khadija Fairouje’s face was puffy from crying as she joined relatives and neighbors hauling possessions down rock-strewn streets. She had lost her daughter and three grandsons aged 4 to 11 when their home collapsed while they were sleeping less than 48 hours earlier.

“Nothing’s left. Everything fell,” said her sister, Hafida Fairouje.

The Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity was coordinating help for about 15,000 families in Al Haouz province, including food, medical aid, emergency housing and blankets, the state news agency MAP quoted the organization’s head, Youssef Rabouli, as saying after he visited the region.

Rescuers backed by soldiers and police searched collapsed homes in the remote town of Adassil, near the epicenter. Military vehicles brought in bulldozers and other equipment to clear roads, MAP reported. Ambulances took dozens of wounded from the village of Tikht, population 800, to Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech.

In Marrakech, large chunks were missing from a crenelated roof, and warped metal, crumbled concrete and dust were all that remained of a building cordoned off by police.

Tourists and residents lined up to give blood.

“I did not even think about it twice,” Jalila Guerina told The Associated Press, “especially in the conditions where people are dying, especially at this moment when they are needing help, any help.” She cited her duty as a Moroccan citizen.

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m., lasting several seconds, the USGS said. A magnitude 4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later, it said. The collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates occurred at a relatively shallow depth, which makes a quake more dangerous.

It was the strongest earthquake to hit the North African country in over 120 years, according to USGS records dating to 1900, but it was not the deadliest. In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 temblor struck near the city of Agadir, killing at least 12,000. That quake prompted Morocco to change construction rules, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such tremors.

In 2004, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake near the Mediterranean coastal city of Al Hoceima left more than 600 dead.

Friday’s quake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere and Algeria’s Civil Defense agency.

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Disgraced soccer chief Luis Rubiales resigns over World Cup kiss scandal

Journalist Piers Morgan landed an exclusive interview with Spain's departing federation boss.

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'Perfect storm' brewing in House, Colorado Republican says

There’s a “perfect storm” brewing in the House in the coming weeks, and it could pose a threat to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s speakership, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said Sunday.

“On the one hand, we've got to pass a continuing resolution," Buck said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.” "We also have the impeachment issue. And we also have members of the House, led by my good friend, Chip Roy, who are concerned about policy issues. They want riders in the appropriations bills, amendments in the appropriations bills that guarantee some type of security on our Southern border.

“So you take those things put together, and Kevin McCarthy, the speaker, has made promises on each of those issues to different groups. And now it is all coming due at the same time,” Buck said.

McCarthy became House Speaker after eking out a victory on the 15th round of votes among House Republicans. One of the concessions the California Republican made to win the position — agreeing to allow a single member of his party to start a process ousting the speaker, known as a “motion to vacate” — has left him at the mercy of some of the more fringe members of his conference as they look to the House leadership to accomplish their goals.

Buck said Sunday the GOP’s focus should be on the issues like border security, crime and inflation — not, at least at this point, on impeaching Democratic President Joe Biden.

“If we start going down these paths that really bear no fruit — we are not going to get an impeachment through the Senate,” Buck said.

“The reality is that the impeachment process is one that is going on right now. The Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee, the Ways and Means Committee are all investigating. They're developing really good information about Hunter Biden,” Buck added, noting that “there is not a strong connection at this point between the evidence on Hunter Biden and any evidence connecting the president.”

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Musk biographer tries to 'clarify' details on Starlink in Ukraine after outcry

"Musk did not enable it, because he thought, probably correctly, that would cause a major war," Walter Isaacson says.

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UN atomic watchdog warns of threat to nuclear safety as fighting spikes near a plant in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine — The United Nations atomic watchdog warned of a potential threat to nuclear safety from a spike in fighting near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine, whose forces continued pressing their counteroffensive Saturday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its experts deployed at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant reported hearing numerous explosions over the past week, in a possible indication of increased military activity in the region. There was no damage to the plant.

“I remain deeply concerned about the possible dangers facing the plant at this time of heightened military tension in the region,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned in a statement issued late Friday.

He noted that the IAEA team was informed that staff at the nuclear power plant had been reduced temporarily to minimum levels due to concerns of more military activity in the area.

“Whatever happens in a conflict zone, wherever it may be, everybody would stand to lose from a nuclear accident, and I urge that all necessary precautions must be taken to avoid it happening," Grossi said.

The IAEA has repeatedly expressed concern that the fighting could cause a potential radiation leak from the facility, which is one of the world’s 10 biggest nuclear power stations. The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.

As Ukrainian forces pressed to expand their gains after recently capturing the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region, the U.K. Defense Ministry noted in its latest report that Russia has brought in reinforcements to stymie the Ukrainian advances.

“It is highly likely that Russia has redeployed forces from other areas of the frontline to replace degraded units around Robotyne,” it said. “These redeployments are likely limiting Russia’s ability to carry out offensive operations of its own along other areas of the front line.”

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War noted that the Russian military has made notable changes to its command and control structure to “protect command infrastructure and improve information sharing.”

Russian forces have continued their barrage across Ukraine. The regional authorities in the northeastern region of Sumy that borders Russia said that the latest Russian shelling left four people wounded, one of whom later died in a hospital.

The Kremlin reaffirmed Saturday that Russia will not extend a landmark deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea until the West fully meets Moscow’s demands regarding its own agricultural exports.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov commented on reports that Western powers were allegedly discussing a deal that would allow the Russian Agricultural Bank to open a subsidiary that would be reconnected to the SWIFT payment system and meet other Russian demands. He said that Moscow expects the West to fulfill the original agreements to facilitate Russian agricultural exports that were reached in July 2022.

“For instance, they are now saying that the West is allegedly ready to promise to open SWIFT for a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank, but the thing is that the agreements envisage SWIFT access for the Russian Agricultural Bank, not its subsidiary,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

He added that “because they have already made a lot of promises, we considered ourselves entitled and obligated to wait first for the implementation before resuming the deal.”

Russia refused to extend the deal in July, complaining that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored. It said restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.

Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed the Kremlin’s demands as a ploy to advance its own interests.

On Saturday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi arrived to Ukraine for an official visit and prayed at a church in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where some of the worst atrocities of Russia’s war occurred early during the invasion.

"I am grateful to Japan for remaining our key partner in Asia and supporting Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Speaking after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Hayashi pledged that “Japan will go hand in hand with Ukraine until peace returns to its beautiful land.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that while Japan cannot provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, it has "already demonstrated that it can do many other important things to improve our security.”

Japan has given Ukraine more than $7 billion in assistance since the start of the full-scale invasion. As part of its assistance, Tokyo provided two transformers to help Ukraine restore its energy systems after relentless Russian strikes, and donated 24 trucks to help Ukraine clear unexploded ordnance.

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Rescue begins of ailing U.S. researcher stuck 3,000 feet inside a Turkish cave, Turkish officials say

TASELI PLATEAU, Turkey — Rescue teams began the arduous process Saturday of extricating an American researcher who became seriously ill while he was 3,000 feet below the entrance of a cave in Turkey, officials said.

It could take days to bring Mark Dickey to the surface since rescuers anticipate he will have to stop and rest frequently at camps set up along the way as they pull his stretcher through the narrow passages.

“This afternoon, the operation to move him from his camp at 1040 meters to the camp at 700 meters began,” Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate, AFAD, told The Associated Press.

The 40-year-old experienced caver began vomiting Sept. 2 because of stomach bleeding while on an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains.

Rescuers from across Europe rushed to the cave to help Dickey and to extract him, including one Hungarian doctor who treated him inside the cave Sept. 3. Doctors gave Dickey IV fluids and 1 gallon of blood inside the cave, officials said. Teams composed of a doctor and three or four others take turns staying with the American at all times.

There are 190 personnel from eight countries assisting in the rescue effort, including doctors, paramedics and experienced cavers, Mersin Gov. Ali Hamza Pehlivan told media Saturday. He said 153 of them were search and rescue experts.

“We have received information that his condition is getting better, thanks to medical intervention. He has been in stable condition as of yesterday," he said.

Speaking with the AP before rescue operations began, Recep Salci, head of AFAD’s search and rescue department, said the rescue will depend on Dickey's condition.

"If he feels well, we will assist him, and he will come out (of the cave) fast. But if his condition worsens, we will have to bring him up on a stretcher.” He said bringing Dickey up in a stretcher could take up to 10 days.

Yusuf Ogrenecek of the Speleological Federation of Turkey says that one of the most difficult tasks of cave rescue operations is widening the narrow cave passages to allow stretcher lines to pass through at low depths.

“Stretcher lines are labor intensive and require experienced cave rescuers working long hours,” Ogrenecek said, adding that other difficult factors range from navigating through mud and water at low temperatures to the psychological toll of staying inside a cave for long periods of time.

In Rome, Federico Catania, the spokesman for Italy’s National Alpine and Speleological Rescue, described the cave as one of the deepest in the world.

“The cave is made up of many vertical shafts, so many sections that are extremely vertical with few horizontal sections where (the) rescuers are setting up temporary camps,” he said.

Turkish authorities made a video message available that showed Dickey standing and moving around Thursday. While alert and talking, he said he was not “healed on the inside” and needed a lot of help to get out of the cave. He thanked the caving community and the Turkish government for their efforts to rescue him.

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Kemp, DeSantis campaign push back on Trump's Covid ‘tyrants’ comments

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, one of Donald Trump’s favorite punching bags, hit back at the former president Saturday for what he sees as a misrepresentation of his record on Covid-19-related health policies.

“The fact is former president Trump led the opposition to my decision to reopen Georgia — the first state in the country to do so,” Kemp wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, where he responded to a video of Trump calling people “sick” for being “Covid tyrants” that want to take away rights and freedoms.

“While he listened to [Anthony] Fauci & parroted media talking points, I listened to hardworking Georgians. He may not remember, but I sure as hell do,” he added.

At a rally in South Dakota on Friday night, Trump praised Gov. Kristi Noem, who was among a number of governors who did not impose statewide stay-at-home orders during the pandemic.

“Unlike other governors, she never locked down South Dakota,” Trump said. “They all say, ‘Oh, I kept it open, I kept it open.’ They didn’t keep it open.”

After local, state and federal coronavirus measures began shutting down American public life in March 2020, Kemp moved to reopen some businesses and restaurants about a month later in April. Trump said he “strongly” disagreed with the governor’s decision at the time.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who conservatives often praise for his rejection of public health authorities' guidance during the pandemic, moved to reopen Florida at the beginning of May.

"@BrianKempGA and @RonDeSantis were right and Donald Trump was wrong,” James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ campaign manager, wrote on X in response to the original video.

A current uptick of Covid-19 cases has led to a resurgence in pushback against potential further mask mandates, including a GOP-led effort in the Senate to block federal mandates. Many Americans have moved on from previously widespread pandemic precautions, and even President Joe Biden has displayed resistance to masking after the first lady recently tested positive.

Kemp, whose relationship with Trump turned fraught after the former president started making false claims about election fraud in the state, won reelection by around 7.5 percentage points.

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