Soldiers and aid teams have battled to reach remote Moroccan mountain towns devastated by an earthquake that killed more than 2,400 people, with survivors desperate for help to find loved ones feared trapped under the rubble.
Moroccan officials have so far accepted government-offered aid from just four countries – Spain, Qatar, the UK and the United Arab Emirates – with some foreign rescue teams claiming they are awaiting permission to deploy.
Morocco’s interior ministry said officials want to avoid a lack of coordination that “would be counter-productive”.
The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake, made more dangerous by its relatively shallow depth.
Most of the destruction and deaths were in Al Haouz province in the High Atlas Mountains, where homes folded in on themselves and steep, winding roads became clogged with rubble. Some residents cleared away rocks by themselves.
People cheered when trucks full of soldiers arrived on Sunday in the town of Amizmiz. But they also pleaded for more help.
“It’s a catastrophe,” said 28-year-old survivor Salah Ancheu in the town where mountainside homes and a mosque’s minaret collapsed.
“We don’t know what the future is. The aid remains insufficient.”
Moroccan army units were deployed on Monday along a paved road leading from Amizmiz to remoter mountain villages.
The state news agency MAP reported that bulldozers and other equipment were being used to clear the routes.
Tourists and residents have lined up to give blood. In some villages, people wept as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through streets.
Aid offers poured in from around the world following the quake. About 100 teams made up of a total of 3,500 rescuers are registered with a UN platform and ready to deploy in Morocco when asked, Rescuers Without Borders said.
A Spanish search-and-rescue team arrived in Marrakech and headed to the rural Talat N’Yaaqoub, according to Spanish officials. The UK has sent a 60-person search team with four dogs, medical staff, listening devices and concrete-cutting gear.
But other aid teams overseas that were poised to deploy expressed frustration that they could not step in without government approval. Germany had a team of more than 50 rescuers waiting near Cologne-Bonn Airport but has now sent them home, the news agency dpa reported.
The Czech Republic said it had a team of 70 rescuers ready to go and is waiting for permission to take off.
Officials in France, which has many ties to Morocco and said four of its citizens died in the quake, said on Monday that authorities in the North African country are evaluating proposals on a case-by-case basis.
French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said Morocco is “the master of its choices, which must be respected”.
She announced five million euro (£4.2 million) in emergency funds for Moroccan and international non-governmental groups rushing to help survivors. French towns and cities have offered more than two million euro (£1.7 million) in aid, and popular performers are also collecting donations.
Those left homeless – or fearing more aftershocks – have slept outside in the streets of the ancient city of Marrakech or under makeshift canopies in devastated Atlas Mountain towns like Moulay Brahim.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and hit at 11.11pm on Friday (local time and BST), the USGS said.
Our hearts go out to those affected by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck the Atlas Mountains of western Morocco on September 8, 2023 at 11:11 pm local time. The epicenter is estimated to be about ~26 km (16 miles) deep, near the town of Oukaïmedene, ~75 km SW of Marrakech.
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) September 9, 2023
It was North African country’s strongest quake in more than 120 years, and it toppled buildings in regions where many are constructed with bricks made of mud.
A total of 2,497 people were confirmed dead and at least 2,476 others were injured, the interior ministry reported.
Aftershocks have since hit the zone, causing more fear and anxiety in areas where damage has left buildings unstable.
Morocco’s deadliest quake was a magnitude 5.8 tremor in 1960 that struck near the city of Agadir, killing at least 12,000.
It prompted Morocco to change construction rules, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such tremors.
Flags were lowered across Morocco, as King Mohammed VI ordered three days of national mourning starting on Sunday. But there was little time for mourning as survivors tried to salvage anything they could from damaged homes.
