Hi all, copying and pasting from an email from Marie Makuate, who works for HOT in the Open Mapping Hub - West and Northern Africa:
The 2023 Moroccan earthquake struck several Moroccan cities on the night of September 08 to 09, 2023 at 23:11 (local time). With a magnitude of 6.8 and a deep focus of 18.5 kilometers, according to the USGS, the quake was followed by an aftershock of 4.9 magnitude 19 minutes later. The epicenter of the initial quake is located in the High Atlas Mountains, 71 km southwest of Marrakech. At last count, the Ministry of the Interior said the quake killed at least 820 people in the provinces and municipalities of Al-Haouz, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant, adding that at least 672 people were injured.
The images of the area showed us that the area mainly affected has no OSM data, which led us with the lead of OSM Morocco to set up the HOT disaster activation protocol. Find here the link of the TM project: HOT Tasking Manager
It should be noted that the organizations involved in the response at the local level are the Red Cross, as well as governmental organizations.
We would like to thank all those who took part this morning, and invite you to make a massive contribution to this cause.
Finally, we would like to renew our support for the entire Moroccan community, which is currently going through a very difficult period.
Best,
Marie Makuate
The hub and OSM Morocco are working together on this activation. Any support, mapping or otherwise, would be highly appreciated.
I’ll be putting up a wiki page shortly and will post the the link here…
Cheers,
Pete