When earth decide to shake itself ( earthquakes)

    As we learned from the previous blogs Morocco is located at the northern tip of the African continent. Due to the position of the country it share a transformed fault that's between the African plate and the Eurasian plate.  The most natural hazards that we ( morocco) experience are earthquakes.

By definition earthquake is a results of two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below the earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter.

     While the edges of faults are stuck together, and the rest of the block is moving, the energy that would normally cause the blocks to slide past one another is being stored up. When the force of the moving blocks finally overcomes the friction of the jagged edges of the fault and it unsticks, all that stored up energy is released. The energy radiates outward from the fault in all directions in the form of seismic waves like ripples on a pond. The seismic waves shake the earth as they move through it, and when the waves reach the earth’s surface, they shake the ground and anything on it.  https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/eqscience.php

     The most damaging earthquake the Morocco has ever witness was in 1960, in a city named Agadir is located in western Morocco on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. the earthquake's moderate magnitude of 5.7, its maximum perceived intensity was X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Between 12,000 and 15,000 people (about a third of the city's population of the time) were killed and another 12,000 injured with at least 35,000 people left homeless, making it the most destructive and deadliest earthquake in Moroccan history.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Agadir_earthquake

    The country experienced more earthquakes obviously over the years across its land, but nothing was damaging as the one in Agadir. The next link is a website that keeps track of quakes that happened in Morocco in the last 30 days or so. At the time of checking it the most recorded activity was location around the north of Morocco, which is normal and expected as the area is where the transform fault is passing from.  --=>     https://earthquaketrack.com/p/morocco/recent