Morocco earthquake: Inside Amizmiz, the tourist town ‘ripped apart’ and ‘expecting 2,000 dead’
A few months ago, my friend drove through Amizmiz on holiday.
It was a lively, colourful and welcoming town, a stop-off for many who want to visit the Atlas Mountains. Now, it has been ripped apart.
Everywhere you go in Amizmiz, you smell dust and see rubble.
CCTV shows moment earthquake struck – latest updates
People in Amizmiz carrying possessions. Pic: AP
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The moment the earthquake struck Marrakech
As we drive in, the pavements are bustling with people, some of whom are now sleeping in a temporary camp just at the edge of the town.
For some, their homes are either destroyed or too unsafe to inhabit.
Others don’t want to sleep under a roof anymore.
All around them is horrendous evidence of how homes can collapse straight down, crushing everything and everyone in their path.
I hear one dreadful story. A man called Dag – an Italian who moved to this town a decade ago – survived the earthquake but his brother-in-law, who was on the ground floor of his home, died when it collapsed.
Dag tells me you can still see some of his body through the ruins.
Dag said he can see some of his brother-in-law’s body in the rubble, which is too heavy for rescuers to move
People in Amizmiz shelter in tents after their homes were damaged. Pic: AP
Nobody can recover it because they don’t have the machinery to lift the debris.
Dag’s wife, the dead man’s sister, has to walk past the site to get into town.
A man wants to show me the remains of his house.
He is clutching a small paper bag, which he says contains all the possessions he has left.
He guides me through alleys strewn with rubble and we stop at an opening.
A single rescuer, along with some local men, is trying to reach through an opening.
“The woman in there is dead,” says my companion. “It is the mother of my friend. His wife is also in there, and she is also dead.”
And he says this with almost no emotion in his voice. People in this town are running on adrenaline. Many say they simply cannot process what has happened – it is too overwhelming.
Amizmiz, near Marrakech, is near the epicentre of the earthquake. Pic: AP
Dag actually smiles and wishes me good luck as he leaves, having moments earlier told me that, as well as his brother-in-law, many of his friends are dead.
“One day I will come to terms with this, but not today,” he said.
There is Fatima, blessed with a friendly face and a welcoming character but now burdened with a house that is falling apart and memories of a terrible night.
“There was so much noise, I couldn’t get out of the door. I can’t remember everything – I was in shock. My house has gone. I have lost everything and now I am living on the street.”
A paramedic stands at a junction and warns people that the street ahead is particularly perilous.
It is steep, broken and there are exposed power lines.
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There is no electricity here, no running water, no communications. They are cut off and exposed. And the stoicism of today may turn into anger tomorrow.
And all the time, the number of dead will go up. We ask the paramedic about the devastation in this town and he shakes his head. “We think there will be 2,000 dead,” he said. “In the whole region?”, we ask? “No, just in this one town.”
Two thousand people dead, in one town. It takes a moment to sink in.
The population of Amizmiz was reckoned to be about 20,000.
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Sky News team at quake epicentre
So that’s one in 10 people killed by the earthquake. No wonder people have trouble coming to terms with that.
I walk through the rubble. To my right is another house that has simply collapsed and I reach down and pick up some of the fragments that have turned a road into a demolition site. They crumble in my hands. These houses were not made to cope with this sort of violence.
The people inside would have had no chance. No chance at all.
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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