Tsunami Waves Build in California as Threat Downgraded in Hawaii and Japan | BBC News

Jul 30, 2025 | Waves of over 1m have been recorded near the California-Oregon border, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.

And French Polynesian authorities have increased the maximum wave height prediction for the island of Nuku Hiva from 2.2m to 4m.

The waves were triggered by a massive 8.8 earthquake which hit near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula at about 11:25am local time (00:25am BST) on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Japan has downgraded the tsunami threat level in some areas after earlier telling 1.9 million people to evacuate.

The tsunami warning covering Hawaii has also been downgraded to an advisory level.

Evacuation orders are still in force in countries as far apart as Colombia and New Zealand.

Widespread Tsunami Warnings after Magnitude 8.8 Quake Off Russia's East Coast | BBC News

Jul 30, 2025 | Japan and the US have issued tsunami warnings after a powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Russia on Wednesday.

Official evacuation orders have been issued to people on the Pacific coast of Japan and in Hawaii.

The first tsunami waves, at 30cm high, arrived at the northern coast of Japan's Hokkaido prefecture before 10.40 local time (02.40 BST), Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. Waves at 40cm high have been observed in Tokachi, in Hokkaido.

US authorities have issued tsunami warnings for Hawaii and Alaska. Hawaii warns it could face "destructive" 3-meter high waves.

Tsunami Warning Issued after Magnitude 7 Earthquake Strikes California | BBC News

Dec 5, 2024 | A strong 7.0 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of northern California, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake led to a tsunami warning along the coasts of both northern California and southern Oregon. The earthquake's epicentre was marked near Ferndale, California, a small city in Humboldt County.

Gansu Earthquake: More Than 120 Killed in China's Deadliest Quake in Years | BBC News

Dec 19, 2023 | More than 120 people have been killed in north-west China in the country's deadliest earthquake in years.

The 6.2 magnitude quake hit mountainous Gansu province around midnight on Monday (16:00 GMT), also shaking neighbouring Qinghai.

Fatalities may rise with more than 700 reported injured in icy conditions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered thousands of rescue crews to the region, which is among the poorest and most diverse in China.

As Morocco Tries to Rebuild After Quake, Tradition Is Top of Many Minds

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Experts say the government should preserve cultural and architectural heritage, while also building disaster-resistant homes. In the meantime, residents are living in tents and in limbo.

The Agadir Oufella, a fortress in Morocco, was damaged during an earthquake in 1960 but has been restored more recently. | Hannah Reyes Morales for The New York Times
Boujemaa Kouti still remembers the screams of his neighbors trapped under the rubble of their houses, calling for help that horrific night 63 years ago.

He was just 8 and asleep when a large earthquake struck Morocco in 1960, wiping out entire neighborhoods in the coastal city of Agadir, near the Atlas Mountains, and killing at least 12,000 people.

“I saw stars when I woke up,” Mr. Kouti said, and then he heard “people screaming ‘Save me’ — calling for their family.”

Mr. Kouti’s older brother died, and the Kouti family lived in tents for almost a year as Agadir was mostly rebuilt at a location nearby deemed safer.

Rubble was bulldozed and cleared, and vast amounts of concrete was poured as buildings with stricter seismic standards went up.

The Agadir Oufella, a 16th-century fortress partly damaged in the quake, was eventually restored, and a memorial was erected on top of a hill where many died. » | Aida Alami, Reporting from Agadir and Marrakesh, Morocco | Sunday, November 19, 2023

Scores Killed by Powerful Earthquake in Nepal

GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL: Shock in Jajarkot in Karnali province about 300 miles west of Kathmandu caused at least 128 deaths and destroyed houses

At least 128 people have been killed and dozens injured after a strong earthquake struck western Nepal on Friday. Witnesses said houses in the area had collapsed and buildings were shaking hundreds of miles away.

The 5.6-magnitude quake hit the far west of the Himalayan country late Friday and was measured by the US Geological Survey at just 18 kilometres (11 miles) deep.

In Jajarkot district which is near the epicentre, 92 people were confirmed dead and another 55 injured, Nepal police spokesperson Kuber Kadayat said.

The quake killed at least 36 people in neighboring Rukum district, where numerous houses collapsed. At least 85 injured people had been taken to the local hospital, he said.

Troops were also clearing roads and mountain trails that were blocked by landslides triggered by the earthquake. » | Guardian staff and agencies | Friday, November 3, 2023

Au Népal, un tremblement de terre fait 132 morts : Un séisme de magnitude 5,6 s’est produit dans l’ouest du pays, vendredi soir. Des secousses ont été ressenties jusqu’à New Delhi. »

Morocco After the Quake | Between Us

Sep 21, 2023 | When senior foreign correspondent Stefanie Dekker arrived in Morocco, she witnessed the extent of the destruction of the earthquake that shook the country on September 8.

In this episode of Between Us, Dekker reveals the challenges faced when covering a natural disaster as well as the emotional toll it has taken on everyone.

Libya and Morocco: Two Very Different Responses to Catastrophe

THE GUARDIAN: The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

Not one but two disasters have struck in recent days – the earthquake in Morocco and devastating flooding in Libya.

At least 2,900 people are known to have died in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains a week ago, and the authorities say the death toll will rise.

Three days later, on 11 September, intense flooding in Libya led to the collapse of two dams that unleashed a torrent of mud and water into Derna, destroying large parts of the eastern city.

On Friday morning, the Libyan Red Crescent said the number of people who had died in the city had risen to 11,000 and was expected to rise further as rescue teams arrived and helped to retrieve more bodies from the mud. Officials said 30,000 people were missing.

The full scale of the disaster may be far greater, as few international aid agencies or news reporters have been able to reach the flood-hit area. This area is controlled not by the government in Tripoli but by a rival warlord.

Morocco and Libya may be geographically relatively close to each other – just a 2,000km hop across Algeria – but they could not be two more different countries. This has had a huge impact on their ability to respond to the disasters. » | Rupert Neate and Peter Beaumont | Friday, September 15, 2023

Morocco to Help Rebuild 50,000 Earthquake-damaged Homes – BBC News

Sep 15, 2023 | Moroccan authorities have announced plans to fund the rebuilding of about 50,000 homes damaged by last week's earthquake. They will provide more than $13,000 (£10,460) for the reconstruction of homes which have been completely destroyed, and $8,000 for those with partial damage.

Residents will meanwhile be given temporary shelters and each household will receive a grant of $3,000. The exact number of people left homeless is still not known.

Nearly 3,000 people have been confirmed dead, and more than 5,000 injured in the 6.8 magnitude quake.

Morocco: Living in a Tent Where Your House Once Was | DW News

Sep 15, 2023 | Picking up the pieces after last week's devastating earthquake in Morocco. Those whose homes were destroyed in the quake are now struggling to make do in makeshift shelters, wherever they can.

Morocco Earthquake Survivors Desperate for Help - BBC News

Sep 14, 2023 | Life-saving work is taking place against all odds in Morocco as search and rescue operations continue.

The epicentre of the tremor was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71km (44 miles) from Marrakesh, and many of the worst affected areas are remote villages and towns.

Since the earthquake struck, there's been a growing spotlight on the deployment of international search teams. On Sunday, amid local criticism of a patchy and slow response by authorities, Morocco's government sparked controversy by deciding to only accept help from four countries. It defended the move, saying "a lack of co-ordination could be counterproductive".

Aftershock Rocks Moroccan Village | DW News

Sep 14, 2023 | Soldiers and aid workers in Morocco are making their way to remote rural areas, where entire villages have been wiped out. An aftershock shook a village near the epicenter on Wednesday evening, as emergency responders dug through rubble. Meanwhile, authorities work to re-open damaged and blocked roads.

King of Morocco, Mohammed VI Refuses Earthquake Aid from the US & France | 10 News First

Sep 11, 2023 | King of Morocco Mohammed VI has denied aid from the U.S. and France after an earthquake southeast of Marrakesh killed more than 2,000 people and impacted roughly 300,000.

Earthquake Puts Morocco’s Elusive King in Spotlight

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The monarchy is revered and nearly all powerful in Morocco. But details about the lives and actions of the king, his family and his entourage remain mysterious and subject to speculation.

A photograph released by the Moroccan Royal Palace shows King Mohammed VI, center, during a reception in July on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the sovereign’s accession to the throne in M’Diq, northern Morocco. | Moroccan Royal Palace, via Associated Press
When a devastating earthquake hit Morocco on Friday night, killing more than 2,900 people, King Mohammed VI was in Paris, where he spends a great deal of his time.

It took him most of a day to return to his country and make his only public statement so far — a terse communiqué. Later on Saturday, television showed him presiding over a cabinet meeting, but there was no sound.

He visited a hospital on Tuesday and donated blood. But his low visibility and silence, coupled with the government’s response to the earthquake, have been criticized, with some saying officials are paralyzed because they are awaiting authorization for action from the king.

Moroccan officials argue that they are on top of the crisis and will ask for help as they need it, adding that the king was guiding the response from the beginning.

The king, who turned 60 on Aug. 21, is the richest and most powerful person in Morocco. He is constitutionally both head of the armed forces and, controversially in Islam, of religious matters, as the Commander of the Faithful.

As head of state, he oversees a constitutional monarchy, a managed semi-democracy, with real power exercised by advisers and ministers dominated by his high-school friends. But his authorization for action is vital. » | Steven Erlanger, Reporting from Berlin | Tuesday, September 12, 2023

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Morocco Earthquake: Death Toll Approaches 2,900 as Search Continues

Sep 12, 2023 | The number of people killed in an earthquake in Morocco on Friday has risen to nearly 2,900. Many survivors have spent another night in tents after their homes were destroyed. Rescue teams continue searching for those who could be trapped under the rubble. The army and aid agencies have reached some remote villages in the Atlas Mountains. Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque is live from Ouirgane, south of Marrakesh for the latest updates.

Morocco Quake Survivors Call for More Help after Entire Villages Destroyed

THE GUARDIAN: As scale of disaster become clearer, survivors in small mountain communities feel they have been abandoned

A woman tries to recover some of her possessions from her home in the village of Tafeghaghte.Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP
As the dirt roads leading to some of the areas worst hit in Friday’s earthquake in Morocco were gradually cleared, the full extent of the disaster was being revealed, including whole villages destroyed in Al Haouz province. In the tiny hamlet of Tarouiste, in the Atlas mountain foothills above the town of Amizmiz, not one of a dozen houses was left standing. Only the village mosque had not been reduced to rubble.

With the first international search and rescue teams finally deploying to the worst-affected areas on Monday, after a disaster that has claimed at least 2,800 lives, it was clear that the window to find anyone alive beneath the rubble was rapidly closing. As relief efforts stepped up a gear, the Guardian visited a series of mountain villages that had been almost entirely destroyed, where residents said they felt they had been abandoned.

In Tarouiste, people described how they had been left to carry the dead bodies of six neighbours down the mountain where they were met by private cars, as no ambulances or other government aid had yet reached them.

“No one has come to help us,” said Hassan al-Mati, whose mother was one of those who died, with frustration in his voice. “We need trucks to come to help us move the dead animals buried in the rubble. We need tents and food. We feel like we have been abandoned. » | Peter Beaumont in Tafeghaghte | Monday, September 11, 2023

British Rescue Teams Arrive in Morocco as Earthquake Death Toll Passes 2,400 | ITV News

Sep 11, 2023 | More than 2,400 people have died in the strongest earthquake to hit Morocco in over a century, with the death toll continuing to rise. ITV News' Sangita Lal reports from some of the most remote Moroccan villages left devastated by the earthquake.

Morocco Earthquake: The Village Where the Search for Survivors Has Stopped | Dispatch

Sep 11, 2023 | Mustapha Ait Wa Aziz stood atop a pile of rubble in the village of Moulay Brahim in Morocco's High Atlas mountains.

Until Friday night it was a four-floor building with a terrace offering fabulous views towards Mount Toubkal, Morocco’s highest peak at 4,167m, which towered in the distance.

But in the space of 30 seconds, the entire building collapsed, crushing Mustapha’s sister Soad and her 16-year-old son Abdessamad.

He pointed to the two spots where he and other villagers eventually pulled their lifeless bodies out of the wreckage.

Moulay Brahim was near the epicentre of Morocco’s worst earthquake on record, which by Monday night had already claimed 2,681 lives - half of them in the in Al-Haouz province where the village is located.

Strongest Earthquake in Morocco Has Killed More Than 2,100 People and Injured Hundreds of Others

Sep 11, 2023 | In Morocco where more than 48 hours have passed since the country was struck by its most devastating natural disaster in decades. Emergency teams are in a race against time to find survivors. So far, more than 2,100 people are confirmed dead and that number is expected to rise.


LIVE EN COURS : Séisme au Maroc, en direct : au moins 2 681 personnes sont mortes, selon le dernier bilan du ministère de l’intérieur : Les secouristes marocains, appuyés par des équipes étrangères, redoublent d’efforts lundi pour retrouver d’éventuels survivants et fournir l’assistance à des centaines de sans-abri. »

Morocco Earthquake Death Toll Rises to Nearly 2,500 - BBC News

Sep 11, 2023 | The number of people killed in a powerful earthquake in Morocco has risen to almost 2,500, officials have said. Rescuers have been using their bare hands to dig for survivors. Heavy lifting equipment can't get through roads blocked by boulders to reach remote villages near the epicentre. Friday's earthquake, the country's deadliest in 60 years, struck below villages in the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh.