Scot 'felt walls shake as people screamed' during Moroccan earthquake

A Scot who travelled to Morocco on a family holiday has told how she felt her hotel shake as people ran screaming from the building as the country experienced its deadliest earthquake in 60 years.

Friday’s earthquake, which struck near villages in the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh, has reportedly killed approximately 2,497 people so far.

The hunt for survivors continues, but response teams are struggling to bring in machinery to remote areas and in some places villagers have been digging by hand and shovel to find survivors.

One Scottish holidaymaker, 34-year-old mum Ashley, told STV News: “I was in bed when it happened, I felt shaking to start then the plaster started coming off the walls, I screamed to my partner to get out the room, at this point the whole building was shaking, I ran outside to get my sister who had the three kids in her room, everyone was running from the hotel at this point screaming. We ran to the football pitches where everyone was gathering.”

She added that staff at the hotel have been “amazing” however “things have been very scary” in the past few days.

She described how many are still sleeping outside the hotel as they are scared to go back inside the building due to the structural damage caused to the walls.

She said: “We’ve been in our room last night but any noise or movement is absolutely terrifying us. “We are due to fly home Friday evening and we are hoping our flight will still be on.

“Tui [the holiday provider] has been doing their best to get people home but there’s thousands of people here. Outside our hotel all we can hear is sirens going constantly.”

The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake, made more dangerous by its relatively shallow depth.

Most of the destruction and deaths were in Al Haouz province in the High Atlas Mountains, where homes folded in on themselves and steep, winding roads became clogged with rubble. Some residents cleared away rocks by themselves.

Morocco is a period of three-days of mourning for those lost while continuing the rescue mission.

Soldiers and aid teams have battled to reach the country’s remote mountain towns where many fear their loved ones remain trapped under the rubble.

Moroccan officials have so far accepted government-offered aid from just four countries – Spain, Qatar, the UK and the United Arab Emirates – with some foreign rescue teams claiming they are awaiting permission to deploy.