Morocco quake kills 15
RABAT, Morocco (Reuters) -- A strong earthquake shook northern Morocco early on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people around the Mediterranean port city of Al Hoceima, officials said.
A civil defence spokesman in Al Hoceima said the village of Ait Kamara, 14 km (nine miles) away, was "completely destroyed" and "there are many dead."
"So far rescue workers have found 15 bodies in that village alone," he said by telephone. Most houses in the village were built of mud bricks.
Another village nearby, Im-Zouren, was also badly hit.
In Al Hoceima, residents jumped out of their beds and rushed into the streets when the quake struck, but damage in the city was slight, the spokesman said.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. A magnitude of 6 can cause severe damage.
Morocco's official MAP news agency said the quake struck at around 02:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) and was felt in the areas of Al Hoceima, the tourist city of Fez in the interior and Taza.
"Most victims are in villages near Al Hoceima," it said.
USGS spokesman Butch Kinerney said the quake's epicentre was in the Strait of Gibraltar separating Morocco and Spain, and about 300 km (185 miles) northeast of the Moroccan capital Rabat.
"We could definitely see the potential for some fairly significant damage from this earthquake," he said.
Kinerney said there had been hundreds of small tremors in the North African region since 1990, but this was the biggest since one of 6.0 struck in 1994 near Al Hoceima when at least two people were killed and scores injured.
Morocco's worst recorded quake was in 1960. It destroyed the southern Atlantic city of Agadir, killing 12,000 people.
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