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Aunque el terremoto fue registrado por [[sismógrafo]]s por todo el mundo, pocas estaciones se encontraban lo suficientemente cerca del epicentro como para determinar de forma precisa su posición. Con los datos disponibles, se determinó su ubicación a {{esd|8 km}} al nornoroeste de la [[alcazaba]]. Las observaciones macrosísmicas<ref group=nota>Determinación de los puntos con la máxima intensidad observada.</ref> situaron el [[epicentro]] a aproximadamente {{esd|1 km}} al norte de [[Yachech]].
Antes del terremoto principal se produjo una serie de [[Premonitor (sismología)|temblores premonitorios]]. El primero tuvo lugar el 23 de febrero con una intensidad de III o IV (''Leve'' a ''Moderado''). El día del desastre, se produjo otro temblor premonitorio con una intensidad de VI (''StrongFuerte''), que alarmó a la población cerca de la hora del almuerzo.<ref name=aise_p27-29/>
El terremoto principal se produjo en el tercer día del mes sagrado islámico del [[Ramadán]]. En los distritos de Founti, Yachech y de la alcazaba, todos los edificios fueron destruidos o sufrieron daños severos. En Tarbordjt fueron destruidos o gravemente dañados entre el 60% y el 90% de los edificios; y en la ciudad nueva y la parte costera fueron destruidos el 60%.
== Respuesta ==
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Dada la magnitud de los daños, no se pudieron establecer operaciones de rescate desde la propia ciudad de Agadir. A la mañana siguiente, el [[Ejército de Francia|ejército francés]] y marineros de la [[Sexta Flota de los Estados Unidos]] se aproximaron a la costa, anclaron y se prepararon para la operación de rescate.<ref name=Davis/>
The mainshock took place on the third day of the Muslim observance of [[Ramadan]], immediately collapsing many hotels, apartments, markets, and office buildings. Underground water mains broke and sewer systems crumbled. The [[Kasbah]], a dilapidated fortress which had stood for centuries, crumbled on the side of a hill. With no water pressure and most fire stations having collapsed (killing their occupants) many fires were left burning in the resort city of Agadir with few firefighters and resources to fight them. With nearly seventy percent of the city in ruins, no rescue operations were able to be initiated or arranged from within Agadir. By morning the French army and sailors from the [[United States Sixth Fleet]] approached the coast, anchored, and prepared for the rescue process.<ref name=Davis/>
También al día siguiente del terremoto, el rey [[Mohamed V de Marruecos|Mohamed V]] y su consejo de ministros crearon una comisión de reconstrucción cuyas riendas fueron confiadas al príncipe heredero, [[Hasán II de Marruecos|''mulay'' Hasán]] (futuro Hasán II). Rápidamente, con el fin de reducir el riesgo sísmico (ya que Agadir estaba construida directamente sobre la falla), se decidió que la ciudad nueva se construiría un poco más al sur, abandonando los distritos situados al norte del río [[Tildi]] (la alcazaba, Founti, Yachech y Talbordjt). El rey colocó la primera piedra el 30 de junio de 1960, cuando las tareas de desescombro apenas habían empezado.
British author [[Gavin Maxwell]] was staying in Morocco at the time of the disaster and his book ''The Rocks Remain'' opens with a vivid description drawn from his own experiences and those of others in the area, including important personages in the Moroccan government who numbered among his friends.<ref name="gmax"/>
La magnitud de la destrucción y las temperaturas, inusualmente altas para la época del año, dificultaron las tareas de rescate. La rápida putrefacción de los miles de cadáveres crearon un ambiente insano, y el cumplimiento del ayuno de [[Ramadán]] supuso una dificultad añadida para los trabajadores. Además, muchas víctimas rechazaron los tratamientos médicos, convencidas de que supondrían romper el ayuno. Los trabajadores fueron provistos con máscaras de gas, y se esparció cal viva por las áreas donde se consideraba que el rescate era inútil con el fin de destruir los cadáveres en proceso de putrefacción, aceptando como mal menor el riesgo de matar a los supervivientes que quedaran sepultados bajo los escombros. Asimismo, se rociaron las ruinas con desinfectante, [[DDT]] y matarratas como medida de prevención de enfermedades. Las ruinas habían atraído enjambres de moscas, ratas provenientes del sistema de alcantarillado que había quedado destruido y animales de mayor tamaño, como perros y gatos ferales que se alimentaban de los cuerpos. La escena del desastre también atrajo a saqueadores, que fueron tiroteados y arrojados en fosas comunes junto con los cuerpos de las víctimas.<ref name="gmax"/>
=== Response ===
{{see also|French aircraft carrier La Fayette (R96)}}
== El terremoto en la literatura ==
[[Mohammed V of Morocco|Mohammed V]] broadcast a request that all cities of Morocco prepare and send aid. He and his son, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, flew to the area along with several cabinet ministers to observe the impact firsthand. In his role as [[Imam]], he gave special dispensation to rescue workers to set aside the requirement to abstain from food and drink during daylight in Ramadan, but many workers nevertheless continued to fast.<ref name="gmax"/> Military planes from France and the United States flew into Agadir to assist with the relief effort. The Moroccan Army provided emergency aid and helicopters arrived from the [[Ben Guerir Air Base]], around 100 miles away.<ref>{{cite news|title=2 Morocco Quakes Kill Hundreds|date=1 March 1960|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>
El escritor británico [[Gavin Maxwell]] estaba en Marruecos cuando se produjo el terremoto. Su libro ''The Rocks Remain'' comienza con una descripción vívida sacada de sus propias experiencias y las de otros testigos, entre los cuales se cuentan amigos suyos que ocupaban cargos importantes en el gobierno marroquí.<ref name="gmax"/>
Upon arrival, Rear Admiral [[Frank Peak Akers|Frank Akers]] (commander of the U.S. fleet air arm in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean) toured the scene and reported that the Agadir hospital was in ruins. One of the many victims of the disaster was author and lawyer [[Robin Maugham]]. He was treated at a hospital in [[Casablanca]] for minor injuries he received while at the Saada resort when it collapsed – he had been trapped under a fallen beam for several hours.<ref name="gmax"/> The city of [[Agadir]] was evacuated two days after the earthquake in order to avoid the spread of disease.<ref name=latMar2/>
[[File:USGS Shakemap - 1960 Agadir, Morocco earthquake.jpg|thumb|USGS ShakeMap showing the intensity of the earthquake]]
The rescue work was hampered both by the level of destruction and by the weather – temperatures were unusually high for the time of year, reaching 104 degrees F (40 deg C) in the shade. Rapid putrefaction of the thousands of corpses created a foul and unhealthy atmosphere, and adherence to the Ramadan fast caused further strain on rescue workers. Many victims also refused medical treatment, believing that to accept it would constitute breaking their fast. Rescue workers were equipped with gas masks, and [[quicklime]] was spread over areas where rescue was considered hopeless, to destroy the rotting corpses – the risk of killing buried survivors as well being accepted. Disinfectant and [[DDT]] were sprayed over the ruins from lorries and helicopters to control disease and kill the swarms of flies which were attracted to the scene. The ruins also became infested by rats from the destroyed sewer network and rat poison was spread to kill them; larger animals, such as stray dogs and cats which fed on the human corpses, were shot. Looters were also attracted to the destruction; they were shot on sight and their bodies dumped in mass graves along with those of the victims. These measures were viewed as callous and brutal by those remote from the scene, but given the scale of the destruction and the rapid infestation of the ruins by potential carriers of disease, drastic measures were necessary in order to prevent still further loss of life from epidemic.<ref name="gmax"/>
=== Damage ===
{{see also|Earthquake engineering}}
Construction in Agadir progressed rapidly between 1945 and 1955, with specific conditions that may have contributed to the high degree of destruction. Challenging designs were often undertaken with untrained workers, and a lack of good supervision was typical, along with an accelerated effort to finish the job. As there had been no serious earthquakes prior to 1960, construction in the city had been done without consideration of seismic activity. Masonry buildings of more than one story did not fare well, but reinforced concrete structures varied dramatically in their response. For example, some of the highest of this type collapsed completely, while a good number of them resisted the shock well, and some others escaped damage altogether. In most cases of complete collapse, the design of the buildings lacked with respect to building regulations, as these were not a primary concern of the architects and inadequate enforcement of the ordinances was also a factor.<ref>{{citation|first=J.|last=Despeyroux|year=1960|title=The Agadir earthquake of February 29th 1960: behaviour of modern buildings during the earthquake|booktitle=Association for Science Documents Information, Proceedings of the second World Conference on Earthquake Engineering : Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, July 11–18, 1960|url=http://nisee.berkeley.edu/elibrary/Text/201103034|pages=522, 527, 531}}</ref>
Many quarters of the city consisted entirely of buildings constructed from [[rammed earth]]. These had essentially zero earthquake resistance and disintegrated completely into dust. In these areas rescue work was impossible and survival rates were negligible; for example, in the Talbourdjt area, out of 5,000 inhabitants fewer than ten survived.<ref name="gmax"/>
== Tsunami ==
{{see also|List of historic tsunamis}}
The newspaper report on 2 March 1960 described how a tsunami was reported to have come ashore shortly after the earthquake, stating "A tidal wave curled in across the white beaches and lanced {{convert|300|yard}} into the town. The city dock was cut in two, a Spanish shipmaster radioed."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19600302&id=fcsVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7Q8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5331,585598&hl=en | title=Tidal wave hits | work=The Milwaukee Sentinel | date=Mar 2, 1960 | accessdate=29 February 2016 | pages=A2}}</ref> A tsunami disaster was later refuted by a report from the [[American Iron and Steel Institute]] after a team of earthquake engineers, including [[Ray W. Clough]] from the [[University of California, Berkeley]], surveyed the damage and building failures throughout the Agadir area in March 1960. The report of their findings stated that the port facilities suffered damage due to fairly uniform subsidence in the harbor area that was responsible for knocking over five large cranes, but no evidence of nor any reliable witness to large waves was found, with the exception of a Dutch freighter crew who stated that large swells in the harbor did cause the separation of their mooring lines at the time of the earthquake. A report in a 1964 issue of the ''[[Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America]]'' also denied the existence of a destructive tsunami because of a lack of evidence from a nearby [[tide gauge]].<ref>{{harvnb|AISE|1962|pp=8, 29, 52}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Tsunamis and seismic seiches reported from the Eastern Atlantic south of the Bay of Biscay|url=http://bssa.geoscienceworld.org/content/54/1/439.abstract|first=W. H.|last=Berninghausen|year=1964|journal=Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America|publisher=[[Seismological Society of America]]|volume=54|number=1|page=441}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[List of earthquakes in 1960]]
== Notas ==
}}
'''SourcesFuentes'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation|title=The Earthquake of Agadir, Morocco|author=AISE|year=1962|edition=1st|publisher=[[American Iron and Steel Institute]]|asin=B000H5AJDG}}
== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060818155723/http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/images/hotelsaadabeforeandafter.jpg A hotel, before and after the earthquake]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/29/newsid_3829000/3829809.stm Thousands dead in Moroccan earthquake] – [[BBC News]]
* [http://www.nfb.ca/film/once_agadir ''Once... Agadir''], a 1971 documentary film about the Agadir earthquake
* [http://www.agadir1960.com Agadir en 1960 et le tremblement de terre du 29 février 1960] {{fr icon}}
* [http://www.pbase.com/beunard/agadir_earthquake Pictures of the earthquake]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080211231216/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1960_02_29.php Historical earthquakes – Agadir, Morocco] – [[United States Geological Survey]]
* {{EQ-isc-link|878424}}
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