Moroccan quake death toll rises, rescuers reach more villages

Morocco earthquake death toll: 2,862, injured: 2,562.
Rescuers have not yet reached remote mountain villages.
Italy, Belgium, France, and Germany have offered assistance.

After Morocco’s most powerful earthquake in over a century, many survivors were facing challenges in makeshift shelters on Tuesday.

They had spent a fourth night outdoors, as rescuers had not yet reached remote mountain villages that suffered severe damage.

The death toll from the 6.8 magnitude quake, which struck in the High Atlas Mountains on Friday, had reached 2,862, with 2,562 people injured, and these numbers were expected to increase.

Rescue teams from Spain, Britain, and Qatar were assisting Moroccan search teams, while Italy, Belgium, France, and Germany had offered assistance that was still pending approval.

The prospects of finding survivors under the rubble were diminishing, particularly because many of the traditional mud brick houses in these mountain villages had collapsed without leaving any air pockets.

Due to the challenging and isolated terrain in the worst-hit area, the situation on Tuesday was uneven.

Some organized tent camps had been established, and supplies were being airlifted in, but in other locations, no aid had arrived yet due to blocked roads caused by rocks and earth dislodged by the earthquake.

Some survivors had taken refuge in the open, along the Tizi n’Test road, which connects remote valleys to Marrakech, after fleeing their devastated villages.

“The authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages that are worst affected,” said Hamid Ait Bouyali, 40, waiting on the roadside. “There are some villages that still have the dead buried under the rubble.”

Moroccan quake death toll rises, rescuers reach more villages

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