Moroccan authorities Monday said the 6.8-magnitutde quake struck the Atlas mountains , southwest of the tourist center of Marrakesh, late Friday, and to date has killed over 2,100 people while seriously injuring over 2,400.
The North African nation Sunday announced accepting aid offers from Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “to send search and rescue teams.
Rabat’s interior ministry noted that the foreign teams were in contact with authorities to coordinate efforts, adding only four offers have been accepted, arguing that “a lack of coordination could be counterproductive.”
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna Monday told BFMTV that President Emmanuel Macron pledged to provide aid “the second” Morocco requests it.
FILE - A local resident (L) donates items for the victims of the earthquake in Morocco at a collection point in Eindhoven, on September 11, 2023.
“Morocco is a sovereign country, and it’s up to it to organize the aid,” she said while announcing the release of $5.4 million to help non-governmental groups that are already working in Morocco.
An AFP journalist aboard a plane that left Qatar’s Al-Udeid air base outside Doha, Sunday evening said the Arab nation has sent rescue vehicles and other assistance.
Spain has sent 86 rescuers and eight search dogs to Morocco to "help in the search and rescue of survivors of the devastating earthquake suffered in our neighboring country," said a defense ministry statement.
"We will send whatever is needed because everyone knows that these first hours are key, especially if there are people buried under rubble," Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told public television.
While the foreign teams begin to arrive, Moroccan authorities have erected emergency shelters. Bright yellow tents were visible along the road into Tikht, a village which has effectively ceased to exist.
FILE - Mohamed Sebbagh, 66, stands in front of his destroyed house, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Amizmiz, Morocco, September 10, 2023.
Members of the government's civil protection service carried camp beds from a military-type truck toward the tents. Non-profit groups were also in the area to assess needs.
Previously home to at least 100 families, the quake left Tikht a tangle of timber, chunks of masonry as well as broken plates, shoes and the occasional intricately patterned rug.
"Life is finished here," said Mohssin Aksum, 33, who had family in the settlement, where residents and their livestock were killed. "The village is dead."
Morocco’s historic quake wiped out villages in the foothills of the Atlas mountains, where rescuers continue to search survivors and the bodies of the dead.