More than 2,000 people have been killed so far after a deadly earthquake jolted Morocco in the late evening hours on Friday, according to Al Jazeera. After the magnitude 6.8 earthquake, which claimed the lives of more than 2,012 people and injured 2,059 others while also leaving many homeless, authorities on Saturday proclaimed three days of national mourning in the country.

According to a statement from the military, King Mohammed VI of Morocco directed the armed forces to deploy specialized search and rescue teams and a surgical field hospital. Historic structures in Marrakesh, the closest city to the epicentre, were damaged by the earthquake that shook Morocco's High Atlas mountains late on Friday night, but the majority of casualties were recorded in mountainous regions to the south in the Al-Haouz and Taroudant provinces, reported Al Jazeera.