The former editor of The Malta Business Weekly has given an account of the moments of terror as an earthquake hit Morocco on Friday.

Dayna Camilleri Clarke wrote on Facebook that she and her husband Jean Paul had just spent a gorgeous evening in Marrakech.

“At 23.15 we were woken up by an earthquake (now I’ve been in tremors and earthquakes before and I instantly knew this was different) it felt never ending. The whole room was violently shaking, JP grabbed me and our passports and told me to run. I was frozen in fear, part of me rationalising this,” she wrote.

“Perhaps it’s normal here, it’s fine”. Everyone was trying to escape, running in the streets screaming, I just saw clouds of dust and women in pyjamas without their hijabs and thought “this is serious”.

“We kept going until we got to a park, then went back briefly and met other guests and saw the damage to our building. Right above our bed there were cracks outside.”

Eventually our hotel manager advised us to stay out until at least 3.30am and led us out for the old city but upon our return with our small group we noticed cracks in our room too.

“Needless to say a frightful experience. I thank God JP got me out quickly whilst I was in such a state shock. Not sure what our plan is now. Over 632 reported dead so far, not enough ambulances.”

A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing hundreds of people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech.