Morocco mourns its earthquake victims as the search for survivors goes on

Death tolls passes 2,100 as those left homeless struggle to find food and shelter

A woman is helped as she reacts to the death of relatives in the mountain village of Tafeghaghte, southwest of Marrakech (Getty Images)

Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades are struggling to find food and shelter as the search goes on for those missing and the death toll rises.

The number of dead is now more than 2,122, with another 2,421 injured. Those totals are likely to increase as rescue workers and residents dig through the rubble. Many people on Sunday were preparing to spend a third night in the open after the near-7 magnitude earthquake hit late on Friday. The quake’s epicentre was around 70km (40 miles) southwest of Marrakech.

Relief workers face the challenge of reaching areas in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled. In the badly-hit village of Amizmiz, residents watched as rescuers used a mechanical digger on a collapsed house. “They are looking for a man and his son. One of them might still be alive,” said Hassan Halouch, a retired builder. The team eventually recovered only bodies.

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“The next two to three days will be critical for finding people trapped under the rubble,” Caroline Holt, global director of operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said.

Three days or mourning started on Sunday and King Mohammed VI called for mosques across the country to hold prayers for the victims. Burials are already taking place, often with rescue work only metres away.

In Moulay Brahim, a village 40km (25 miles) south of Marrakech, residents described how they dug the dead from the rubble using their bare hands. On a nearby hillside, they buried a 45-year-old woman who had died along with her 18-year-old son, a woman sobbing loudly as the body was lowered into the grave.

As he retrieved possessions from his damaged home, Hussein Adnaie said he believed people were still buried in the rubble nearby. “They didn’t get the rescue they needed so they died. I rescued my children and I’m trying to get covers for them and anything to wear from the house,” he told Reuters.

People comfort each other while digging graves for victims of the earthquake, in Ouargane village, near Marrakech (AP)

Yassin Noumghar, 36, complained of shortages of water, food and power, saying he had received little government aid so far. “We lost everything, we lost the entire house,” he said. “We want just for our government to help us.”

With most shops damaged or closed, residents are struggling to get basics. “We’re still waiting for tents. We haven’t had anything yet,” said Mohammed Nejjar. “I had a little food offered by one man but that’s all since the earthquake. You can’t see a single shop open here and people are frightened to go inside in case the roof falls down.”

Morocco’s army has mobilised specialised search and rescue teams, and the king ordered water, food rations and shelter to be provided to those who had lost their homes. But there have been grumblings about the nation not yet having sanctioned many international teams to enter the country.

France has said it stands ready to help and was awaiting a formal request from Morocco. “France is ready to offer its aid to Morocco if Morocco decides it is useful,” President Emmanuel Macron said at the G20 summit in India. “The second they request this aid, it will be deployed,” he added.

Britain said on Sunday that it was deploying search and rescue teams to Morocco. "Sixty UK search and rescue specialists, four search dogs and rescue equipment deployed to Morocco," Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement, adding that it was deploying the rescue team via two Royal Air Force A400M aircraft.

Mohammed Elhmatif and his sons, Rayan, right, and Ali, stand amid the rubble of their home in Ijjoukak village, near Marrakech (AP)

Other countries offering assistance include Turkey, where earthquakes in February killed more than 50,000 people.

Spain said it had on Sunday received a formal request from Morocco for assistance and a team including 56 officers and four sniffer dogs had arrived in the country. Qatar also said its search and rescue team had departed for Morocco.

The United States dispatched a small team of disaster experts to Morocco to assess the situation. A US official told Reuters they arrived on the ground on Sunday.

The World Health Organisation said it believes more than 300,000 people have been affected by the disaster in Marrakech and the surrounding area.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report