Rescue workers are scrambling to locate survivors in isolated mountain towns south of Marrakech following Friday night’s catastrophic earthquake.
Since the authorities struggle to transport equipment up debris-strewn roads and some settlements are in ruins, they have been using their bare hands.
More than 2,100 deaths have been reported officially, but there have been repeated warnings that this number is likely to rise as the scope of the destruction becomes more apparent.
Now that emergency personnel from outside of Morocco have joined the rescue operation, there will be less time to discover survivors.
Rabat has accepted aid offers from Spain, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. France, the US and some other countries say they are also ready to help.
Spain has sent 86 specialist rescuers in two teams, with four sniffer dogs each.
The UK government is sending 60 rescuers with four dogs, on two military transport planes, along with a small medical team. The British kit includes seismic listening devices and concrete cutting and breaking tools for reaching people trapped in rubble.
Several planes have also taken off from Qatar carrying rescue teams and emergency aid.
The Moroccan authorities say they are carefully assessing aid offers because “a lack of co-ordination could be counterproductive”.
In Marrakech, hospital worker Manel has told the BBC said she has lost 10 relatives in the quake, in villages outside the city where access is difficult.
“We cannot do anything from now because we wanted to go and help but we cannot go because the road is closed.
“They should open the roads… so we can go.
“For now, we don’t have any other information because the internet and everything isn’t working there.”
“The situation is very hard but we are trying to find any solution, anything, that we can be doing as Moroccans to help our brothers and other people who are injured or dead or the families of the dead people in that earthquake.”
Source: BBC
