Morocco braces for earthquake aftershocks
The country's natural catastrophe insurance pool reportedly has a limit of $275 million in excess of $25 million.
An economic and humanitarian crisis continues to mount in Morocco as the country assesses damage from the deadly magnitude 6.8 earthquake that rocked communities in and around Marrakesh on Fri., Sept. 8, 2023.
Now, the country also must brace itself for the likelihood of additional aftershocks.
“Based on similar large earthquakes, the region surrounding Oukaïmedene southwest of Marrakech, Morocco, is likely to continue to experience more earthquakes,” the U.S. Geological Survey has reported. “About 1 in 20 earthquakes are followed by a similar-sized or larger aftershock within the first week.”
Marrakech is a city of roughly 840,000 people. Shaking from the Sept. 8 earthquake could reportedly be felt across borders in Spain, Portugal and Algeria. Reports indicate the most severe damage happened in mountain towns and villages southeast of the city.
The event was likely the result of shifting around the North Atlas fault. It has claimed the lives of more than 2,800 people so far, and many thousands more were injuries. The quake reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble, and destroyed sacred sites including a medieval mosque built from earth and stone in the High Atlas Mountains that was under consideration to become a World Heritage site.
It may be too soon to calculate the quake’s exact economic toll, but experts surmise that figure could be somewhere in the neighborhood of 8% of Morocco’s gross domestic product, or nearly $11 billion.
Reinsurers may be insulated from those losses, according to a Fitch Ratings analyst, as it only would be triggered if claims exceed $275 million, which is reportedly the limit on a natural catastrophe insurance pool created by the Moroccan government. The country also has a public fund supported by the World Bank that can cover losses for uninsured victims.
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