Death toll exceeds 2,800

Search teams from Spain, the UK and Qatar are joining the rescue effort in Morocco after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck late on Friday in the High Atlas Mountains, with its epicentre 72 kilometres southwest of Marrakech.

State television reported that the death toll had risen to 2,862 and 2,562 were injured. Rescuers said the traditional mud-brick houses that are ubiquitous in the area had reduced the chances of finding survivors because they were so dilapidated.

Among those killed was Suleiman Aytnasr, 7, who was carried into his bedroom by his mother after falling asleep in the living room of their home in a village outside Talat N'Yaaqoub, one of the worst-hit areas. He was about to start a new school year.

In the village of Tagadirte, where only a few buildings remained, Mohamed Ouchen, 66, described how residents pulled 25 people alive from the rubble immediately after the earthquake.

One of those rescued was his sister. “We didn’t have any tools, we had to use our bare hands,” he said. “Her head was exposed and we kept digging with our hands.”

Video from the remote village of Imi N'Tala, filmed by Spanish rescuer Antonio Nogales from aid group Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras, shows rescuers using sniffer dogs still hoping to find survivors.

“I am sure that in the coming days there will be some rescues, we think there may still be people in the collapsed structures, there may still be air pockets, and as I say, we never give up hope,” he said.

It was the deadliest earthquake to hit the North African country since 1960, when an estimated quake killed at least 12,000 people, and the strongest since at least 1900, according to the US Geological Survey.

In a televised statement on Sunday, Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Baytas said all rescue efforts were being carried out on the ground. The country's military said it was increasing its search and rescue teams, providing drinking water and distributing food, tents and blankets.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters)

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