MARRAKESH, Morocco
Some survivors are recalling the first moments a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that the Atlas Mountains of Morocco late Friday southwest of the tourist centre of Marrakesh.
Authorities report that the
death toll which continues to climb have surpassed 2,600, making the quake deadliest
in Morocco in 60 years.
"I came home to find the
house destroyed and the children under the rubble,"_ recalls one survivor,
while one woman recounted the horror of the quake as she and her children
screamed and screamed until people heard them and pulled them out of the
rubble.
The earthquake wiped out
entire villages in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, where civilian
rescuers and members of Morocco's armed forces have searched for survivors and
the bodies of the dead.
Many houses in remote mountain
villages were built from mud bricks.
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.
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, Tikht has been reduced to 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."
Citizens reported to hospitals
in Marrakesh and elsewhere to donate blood for the injured. Among the donors
were members of Morocco's national football team.
Other volunteers organised
food and essential goods to help quake victims, after complaints that
authorities were slow to respond.
"Everyone must
mobilise," said one volunteer, Mohamed Belkaid,
65. "And that includes the authorities, but they seem to be
absent."
The education ministry
announced that school classes were "suspended" in the worst-hit
villages of Al-Haouz province, the quake epicentre.
Some parts of Marrakesh's
historic medina and its network of alleyways saw significant damage, with
mounds of rubble and crumpled buildings in the World Heritage site.
Dozens of people continued to
sleep outdoors overnight in the modern quarter of Marrakesh. Some stretched out
on the median strip of Mohamed VI Avenue. Others lay at the foot of their
parked cars.
The UN Human Rights Council in
Geneva began its session on Monday with a minute's silence for the quake
victims.
"We are part of a global
collectivity: humanity," said Gambia's ambassador
Muhammadu Kah, who proposed the tribute.
The quake was the deadliest in
Morocco since a 1960 earthquake destroyed Agadir, killing 12,000-15,000
people. Rescue teams search for victims in devastated Talat N'Yaaqoub
village.
Moroccan rescuers supported by newly-arrived foreigners on Monday faced an intensifying race against time to dig out any survivors from the rubble of mountain villages, on the third day after the country's strongest-ever earthquake.
The 6.8-magnitude quake struck
the Atlas mountains late Friday southwest of the tourist centre of Marrakesh.
It killed almost 2,700 people and injured a similar number, according to the
latest official toll issued Monday.
Rabat on Sunday announced it
had accepted aid offers from four nations, while many other countries have said
they were willing to send assistance.
Authorities have responded
favourably "at this stage" to offers from Spain, Britain, Qatar and
the United Arab Emirates "to send search and rescue teams", the
interior ministry said.
It noted the foreign teams
were in contact with Moroccan authorities to coordinate efforts, and said only
four offers had been accepted so far, arguing that "a lack of coordination
could be counterproductive".
President Emmanuel Macron said
France was willing to provide aid "the second" Morocco requested it.
"Morocco is a sovereign
country and it's up to it to organise the aid," French Foreign Minister
Catherine Colonna told BFMTV on Monday.
She announced the release of
five million euros ($5.4 million) to help non-governmental groups already on
the ground in Morocco
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