Good morning. It is Saturday, September the 9th. I'm Ali Valshi. We've got some devastating

breaking news this morning out of the northern African country of Morocco. At least 1,037 people are

confirmed dead following a rare 6.8 magnitude earthquake. The powerful earthquake hit late night

in the province of Al-Hawuz, about 40

miles south of the historic city of Marrakesh. Video shows severe damage from the villages in the

Atlas Mountains all the way to Marrakesh. Buildings are toppled throughout the city. Rescuers are

struggling to reach the remote villages that have been hit the hardest. This is the first earthquake of

such magnitude to hit the area in more than 100 years. Let's go right to NBC News Foreign

correspondent Matt Bradley. Matt, what do we know about the efforts that are underway?

Yeah, well, so far we're seeing, as you mentioned, local authorities and the military trying to bring people out of that wreckage.

And as you said, the death toll has now exceeded 1,000.

It was only a couple of hours ago that that death toll was at 800 something and a couple of hours before that, that it was at 600.

And as you know, from the earthquake that happened actually where where I am now in Turkey, back in February,

these death tolls have a way of climbing very high only after rescue workers are able to get in and start

extracting dead bodies.

That's when they start making this count, and that's when we're going to start to see these numbers

going up and up.

And as you mentioned, this is a 6.8 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological

survey. That is the strongest according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

That is the strongest earthquake to strike this country in 123 years.

Now, as you mentioned, the epicenter is in the high Atlas Mountains, about 50 miles away

from the historic city of Marrakesh. Now, there was some damage to the center of Marrakesh,

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