New Delhi: At least 123 have died while the number is expected to rise as a heavy earthquake with the magnitude of 6.8 jolted Morocco on Friday. Huge and small buildings collpased, leaving the situation devasted there.

Soon after people started to feel trembles, they rushed to save themselves and their families but still many could not defend themselves and died in the quake.

Several incidents are being reported at the moment, while people are sharing videos on the internet showing the severity of the incident.

Residents of Marrakech, the major city closest to the epicenter, said several buildings had collapsed. The Pan-Arab al-Arabiya news channel reported that five members of a family were killed, citing unnamed local sources.

The epicenter of the earthquake was at a relatively shallow depth of 18.5 km and occurred about 72 km southwest of Marrakech and 56 km west of the town of Oukaimeden just after 11pm. local time (22:00 GMT), according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicenter in the High Atlas Mountains, known as Ighil, is an area inhabited by small farming villages.

(This is a breaking news. More to be added as they arrive.)