PBA Reporter
Rescuers have been on a continuous search for survivors of the Morocco’s earthquake that occurred late Friday with the death toll having surged to over 2,800 and scores of people injured.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake that affected many villages in the High Atlas Mountains is the deadliest in the last six decades in the North African country.
The country has been thrown into national mourning since the incident occurred. Entire villages have been flattened, thousands of buildings toppled and whole communities left homeless.
The death toll currently stands at 2,862, with 2,562 people injured, and the figures look likely to rise amid ongoing rescue operations, says a report by Independent UK. Some people were believed to be still trapped in rubbles of collapsed buildings as foreign rescuers from Spain, Britain, and Qatar are currently helping the local search team.
As the disaster crumbled many buildings, many survivors have been outside in the last 72 hours. Makeshift tents are being set up where they can stay for the moment. Some survivors have camped out in the open along the Tizi n’Test road, which connects remote valleys to Marrakesh, the fourth-largest city in Morocco.
Hopes of finding survivors under the rubble are fading because many of the traditional mud brick houses that are common in mountain villages crumbled to earthen rubble without leaving air pockets, according to a report in Aljazeera.
READ ALSO: Over 600 Killed, Many Buildings Damaged In Morocco Earthquake
Reports say that while some affected areas have received aid, mainly airlifted, others in rugged terrains have remained largely unattended due to roads being blocked by rocks and earth dislodged by the quake.
“The authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages that are worst affected,” Hamid Ait Bouyali, 40, said as he waited on the roadside. “There are some villages that still have the dead buried under the rubble.”
The country’s King Mohammed VI has thanked the United Kingdom, Spain, Qatar, and the UAE for sending aid.
A seismological expert, Remy Mossu, has warned that the aftershock of the disaster would continue to rock Morocco for many months to come. In an interview with Sky News Mossu, who is the director of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, said more than 25 aftershocks have already hit the country since the 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred.
With the magnitude of the disaster, it would take Morocco many years to rebuild the damaged structures.
