For Dr. Christopher Foret, it was the vacation of a lifetime, a visit to far-off Morocco and its innumerable charms with family and some of his closest friends.
Then, last weekend’s historic 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit, ripping through the High Atlas Mountains and devastating much of the region, including the ancient city of Marrakesh.
Afterward, Dr. Foret, a longtime practitioner at St. Tammany Physicians Network’s family medicine clinic in Folsom, shared his experience with WDSU-Ch. 6 in New Orleans.
It all happened just after 11 p.m., Dr. Foret said, on what up until then had been a relatively normal night.
“Then there was a loud noise,” he said. “I thought it was an explosion, but there was no fire. Then, the shaking started.”
More than 2,900 people perished in the quake, the most powerful to strike Morocco in 120 years. Most of those killed were reportedly in the small villages scattered in mountains near the Marrakesh.
Dr. Foret and his travel party were luckily uninjured, but they were not left unrattled.
Asked to describe his initial reaction, he said: “Just numb. It was surreal.”
Watch Dr. Foret’s interview at WDSU.com.