Wednesday 11 January 2017

1960, News: Earthquake in Agadir, Morocco

On the intercalary day February 29, 1960 at 23:40 local time the Moroccan city Agadir was hit by a earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale. In less than 15 seconds about 15,000 people, a third of the city's population were killed, and another 12,000 were injured. Although not a very strong earthquake, yet there was a large number of casualties due to the fact that the center of the earthquake was located directly under the city.
Agadir, Kasbah (1960)
Agadir, quartier de Founti (1960)
Agadir, quartier de Talbordjt (1960)
The first rescue workers were French marines from the aircraft carrier La Fayette and Moroccan military. But also Dutch, American and Spanish teams arrived shortly after on the scene. After two days of rescue work the city was evacuated in order to avoid the spread of disease. Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) and DDT were sprayed over the ruins from lorries and helicopters to control disease and kill the swarms of flies which were attracted to the scene. Afterwards the devastated districts were razed to the ground using bulldozers. Thousands of victims were not salvaged, but found their grave at the site of the disaster.
Agadir, hotel Gautier (1960)

Movietone (1960)

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