The Prime Minister highlighted this Sunday, September 10, that Portugal has civil protection and forensic medicine teams on standby to support Morocco and that the Government continues to monitor the situation of the Portuguese who are in that country.
António Costa was speaking to journalists after having lunch with Portuguese businessmen investors in Chile and having met in the morning with Lopez Obador, president of Mexico.
The provisional balance of the earthquake that hit Morocco on Friday night raised the number of deaths to 2.122 and the number of injured to 2.421.
«We have already made available to the Kingdom of Morocco the full availability of Portugal to participate in the support it deems necessary. So far, we have not been asked for any support, but we have it available, both in the area of civil protection and in the area of forensic medicine. We have teams that are on standby to support the Kingdom of Morocco if there is any request in this regard», declared the prime minister.
In front of journalists, António Costa stated that, «from the first hour, the Government expressed its regret to the king of Morocco, the Moroccan people and all those who have bereaved families».
Next, he noted that, on Saturday, Portugal carried out an operation to transfer national citizens who were in Morocco and who expressed their intention to return.
«An Air Force plane, during the night, removed around 140 Portuguese who were in Morocco and who wanted to return to Portugal. We continue to monitor the situation of the Portuguese who are in Morocco. Those who want to return we will support, but those who want to remain are obviously free to remain,” he added.
The earthquake, whose epicenter was recorded in the town of Ighil, 63 kilometers southwest of the city of Marrakesh, was felt in Portugal and Spain, reaching a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale, according to the National Institute of Geophysics of Marrakech. Morocco.
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