More than 2,000 dead following earthquake in Morocco
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than 2,000 people are dead after a rare and powerful earthquake struck Morocco. The reverberations of the disaster are reaching one woman in Chicago who has worked for decades to strengthen diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Marilyn Diamond invited CBS 2's Sara Machi to her home in the Gold Coast and called friends while there to check on them and their families. In her position, honorary consol, she said she checks daily to see what's happening in Morocco.
But Friday brought an unimaginable change.
Rescue crews searched for survivors Saturday, combing through the rubble in the HIgh Atlas Mountains. And 40 miles away, parts of Marrakech would look unrecognizable to Diamond, who has routinely traveled to the nation in North Africa.
So when she heard of the magnitude 6.8 earthquake, she though immediately of the buildings and structures she had seen.
"I knew that they were completely destroyed," she said. "Because they are mud. They are basically made of mud like adobe, and that is to keep it cool, but there is no resilience in a structure like that."
She said remote villages are cut off with roads inaccessible. And people are sleeping in the streets, their homes structurally compromised. She said her friends survived, but more than 2,000 are already counted among the dead -- wiht so much more rubble still to uncover.
"We know that there is more bad news to come because we are in the process of removing the rubble, and it takes that inevitably the death toll is going to go up," she said.
Diamond said it's been an honor to play a small part in a long diplomatic relationship. Morocco was the first country to informally recognize the United States after the Declaration of Independence.
Now she watches, hoping to help and return.
"I would hope to," she said. "I would absolutely hope to. Yes, I think that would be a very important thing to do in the show of support."
She said there are several efforts underway to send aid to Morocco, but the best way to help now is by sending money.