It was “a big scare”, especially because the earthquake that shook Morocco yesterday and was felt in Portugal «it was very intense and time-consuming». «It would have lasted 15 to 20 seconds, shaking with great intensity, although there are those who say it was longer», he revealed to Sul Informação José Carlos Rolo, mayor of Albufeira, who was in Marrakesh, like his counterparts from Loulé and Silves, Vítor Aleixo and Rosa Palma, and technicians from the three municipalities.
The Algarve delegation is in the Moroccan city, 63 kilometers from which recorded the epicenter of the earthquake measuring 7,0 on the Richter scale [there was a second, with intensity 4,9, and several aftershocks] participating in the World Meeting of Geoparks, as representatives of the Aspiring Geopark Algarvensis (Loulé/Silves/Albufeira).
Speaking to our newspaper, José Carlos Rolo said that, at the time of the shock, the Algarve delegation “was outside the hotel, in a meeting”, after having dinner at the hotel, which was not damaged.
«After the earthquake, the other customers started to leave and we stayed outside until the sun came up. We had breakfast and were able to return», said the mayor of Albufeira.
Vítor Aleixo, Mayor of Loulé, revealed, for his part, that «fortunately, there is no destruction around the hotel, especially because we are in the new part of the city».
But, he laments, «the images that reach us on television show great destruction in other parts of the city», particularly in the old area, where the famous and very touristy Medina of Marrakesh is located.
It was here that another Algarve native, architect José Alberto Alegria, honorary consul of Morocco in the Algarve, was in his home.
«I was in the courtyard and saw the house shaking as a whole, with a loud noise of objects and pieces of plaster falling. There were two replicas. Structurally, the house is fine", José Alegria revealed to our newspaper, who reports the occurrence of many landslides in the narrowest streets of the Medina, but that the greatest destruction occurred in the outskirts south of Marrakesh and in the cities closest to the epicenter.
The Algarve delegation had, moreover, spent yesterday in this oldest part of the city and returned to the hotel "about two hours before the earthquake", for dinner, said José Carlos Rolo.
However, it found the Sul Informação, just the day before, the Algarve delegation, made up of the three mayors and a technician from each municipality, had dinner in the Medina area.
At this moment, reveals Vítor Aleixo, the delegations from the Algarve and from other parts of the country that are participating in the meeting, are “waiting for instructions”.
«We were going to the third day of the conference. We don't know if it will continue or not, we are waiting for instructions from the organization», revealed the mayor of Loulé.
The uncertainty is also related to the fact that the building where the meeting is taking place has suffered some damage, according to our newspaper.
What is certain is that, at this moment, «everything is calm«, in the area where the Algarve delegation is located and that, despite the «great scare», all elements «are fine».
At this moment, the earthquake, which was the largest to affect Morocco in the last hundred years, has already caused at least 820 deaths, according to the most recent report, released by Antena 1.
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