In Pictures
Photos: Survivors question rescue efforts after Morocco’s earthquake
The earthquake has put a heavy burden on the North African kingdom’s emergency services.
Homeless, traumatised and in some cases feeling abandoned by the authorities, many survivors of Morocco’s powerful earthquake escaped death only to fear they were now on their own to stay alive.
The deadly earthquake has put a heavy burden on the North African kingdom’s emergency resources and some stranded in shattered communities are angry and shocked over what they say is a lack of an influx of aid.
“We feel abandoned here, no one has come to help us,” said 43-year-old Khadija Aitlkyd from among the ruins of her village of Missirat in a remote area high in the Atlas Mountains.
“Our houses have collapsed … where are we all going to live?” she asked amid the rubble of the tiny, remote settlement where the smell of death hung in the air.
Residents of the village of less than 100 people said the bodies of the 16 locals killed in the earthquake have been recovered, but their dead livestock under the stones and timber was starting to decompose.
The violent shaking that flattened whole villages has inflicted a toll that on Monday crossed 2,800 dead and almost as many injured.
Another survivor, Mohammed Bouaziz, saw his town Moulay Brahim south of Marrakesh hard hit in Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades. About 20 residents were killed.
“We have received some help … but it’s not enough,” said the 29-year-old who is part of a local group trying to meet the needs of some 600 residents left homeless.
More than 48 hours after the earthquake hit, running water was restored in Moulay Brahim and families were sharing the bathrooms of the few homes still standing.
