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A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.8 has struck central Morocco near Marrakesh at 23:11 local time on 8th September. The earthquake has caused severe damage in several areas with at least 1,000 people known to have died and many more injured.
The Moroccan Amateur Radio Emergency Services ( part of ARRAM the Moroccan National Society ) normally operate on VHF/UHF and speaking to Hassan CN8HAN, their Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator on Saturday there was no indication of any HF frequencies in use to respond to the disaster. There are however a number of Search and Rescue teams from other countries heading to the area and some of them have Radio Amateurs as part of their teams.
ARRAM has not asked for any HF frequencies to be kept clear but as the situation develops and SAR teams arrive it would be good for radio amateurs to take extra care around the HF Emergency Centres of Activity frequencies in case any SAR teams start to use frequencies to talk back to their home countries. See this page for frequency usage information in IARU Region 1.
As always, please avoid spreading any rumours about the disaster, pass any requests for assistance to your local authorities/Red Cross/Red Crescent and listen carefully before transmitting.
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