Morocco quake survivors struggle in shelters, with some villages yet to receive help

Many survivors of Morocco's most powerful earthquake in over a century were struggling in makeshift shelters on Tuesday after a fourth night outside, with rescuers yet to reach remote mountain villages which suffered some of the worst devastation.

The death toll from the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck in the High Atlas Mountains late on Friday stood at 2,862, with 2,562 people injured, but those figures looked likely to rise.

Rescuers from Spain, Britain and Qatar were helping Morocco's search teams, while Italy, Belgium, France and Germany had all offered to send in specialists but said they had yet to receive the green light from the Moroccan government.

Hopes of finding survivors under the rubble were fading with the passage of time, not least because many of the traditional mud brick houses that are common in the mountain villages crumbled to earthen rubble without leaving air pockets.

Along the Tizi n’Test road that passes through some of the most remote areas, survivors were critical of the rescue efforts by the government, which they accused of failing the most devastated hamlets.

"The problem is that the authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages that are worst affected," said Hamid Ait Bouyali, 40, who had spent the night along the road on the outskirts of Rakte.

Some villages had yet to receive any help because roads were blocked by landfalls.

In Amizmiz, a large village at the foot of the mountains that has turned into an aid hub, some people made homeless by the quake had been provided with yellow tents by the authorities, but others were still sheltering under blankets.

"I am so scared. What will we do if it rains?" said Noureddine Bo Ikerouane, a carpenter, who was camping with his wife, mother-in-law and two sons, one of whom is autistic, in an improvised tent fashioned from blankets.

AID OFFERS NOT ACCEPTED

Omar Aneflous, a tailor, said even those whose homes were still standing were too scared to return because of the risk of collapse.

"Probably we will stay here for months or a year. People won't go home because their homes risk falling. God knows how long we will stay here," he said.

Germany said it did not think the decision was political, but Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taji told radio station Rtl that Morocco had chosen to receive aid only from countries with which it had close relations.