Morocco Rif region’s old seismic activity trend reemerges as recent tremor worries locals

A magnitude 4.4-4.7 earthquake rattled Morocco’s Rif region on Friday evening, according to both the Global Seismic Monitoring Site and the National Institute of Geophysics.

The earthquake was felt by most residents of the Rif region at 8:17 pm local time, including the provinces of Al-Houceima, Driouch, and Nador. However, this seismic activity actually began in 2021.

“This activity dates back to 2021 when it was at high levels. After two years, and specifically during the period of the Al Haouz earthquake, its activity decreased, only to return yesterday suddenly,” said Nasser Jabour, the Director of the National Insitute of Geophysics, in a statement to Hespress Ar.

He added, “It is difficult to determine whether this activity will continue to escalate or whether yesterday’s seismic event was a relatively moderate tremor.”

Jabour revealed that the magnitude of this tremor was 4.7 on the Richter scale even the Euro-Mediterranean Center revised its calculations after initially announcing 4 degrees, coming closer to the national data.

The said center previously located the epicenter of this earthquake off the coast of the Driouch province, at a depth of 18 kilometers and a distance of 28 kilometers from the Driouch province.

The Director of the National Insitute of Geophysics stressed that monitoring of this activity is ongoing, observing the variations and  changes, pointing out that “the causes of this tremor are tectonic, related to the heat in the Earth’s interior.”

Jabour added, “changes in temperature in the depths of the Earth are the cause of such earthquakes,” stressing that “there is no link between the tremor and the aftershocks of the Al Haouz earthquake.”

“There is a difference between the Al Haouz region and the Mediterranean Sea, with the former being a region within the African plate, which means that its seismic behavior is different from other regions, especially coastal ones located on the edges of the plate,” elaborated further the Director of institute.

Jabour predicted that “the northern region will continue to experience this activity for a longer period. As to the Al Haouz region, there has been a clear decline since September, with its activity continuing at a low rate.