Morocco earthquake killed 300 as they slept

MORE THAN 300 people, mainly woman, children and the elderly, died as they slept when a powerful earthquake struck northern Morocco in the early hours yesterday.

Survivors frantically dug through rubble with bare hands to search for loved ones as rescue teams struggled to reach the area.

They reported difficulties in reaching the stricken region, located in the foothills of the Rif Mountains and served by narrow, poor roads.

The quake shook rural areas near the Mediterranean town of Al Hoceima, and there were deep worries about the fate of three outlying villages Ait Kamara, Tamassint and Imzourn where 30,000 people live in mud and stone structures unable to withstand a major natural disaster.

Authorities have already counted 140 deaths in Ait Kamara, and estimate a preliminary death toll of more than 300 deaths based on contacts with other villages, said a spokesman for local authorities.

Josephine Shields of the Red Cross said Ait Kamara a village of 6,000 was completely destroyed.

"The latest we have is that roughly 300 persons are feared dead and about 600 or more injured," she said. "The hospital services and health centres have been saturated."

Mohammed Ziane, a former human rights minister, said it was highly likely that most quake victims were women, children and the elderly.

"This is a real tragedy," said Ziane, a native of Al Hoceima. "Most people living in this area are women, children and old people. The men leave for jobs in the Netherlands and Germany."

The death toll climbed steadily throughout the day in the North African kingdom as rescuers began reaching the hard-hit areas and finding corpses, officials said. Some families had already buried their dead.

Morocco's King Mohammed promised all possible efforts in mobilising "human and material resources" for the stricken region. The king called the quake a "challenge of destiny."

Military and civilian rescuers were sent to the scene to help survivors and search for victims trapped under rubble, while helicopters filled with emergency supplies were being dispatched.

TV footage showed men with pickaxes chipping their way through debris left by flattened buildings while others used their bare hands to try to reach trapped victims.

More than 200 relief workers from the Moroccan Red Crescent were at the scene.

British and French quake rescue teams were on standby to fly to Morocco if called on. "The most urgent priority is to search for survivors and give them proper medical attention," said Baddredine Bensaoud, secretary-general of the Moroccan Red Crescent.

"There is enormous damage," said Dr Mekki Elhankouri at a hospital in Al Hoceima. "There were three storey buildings that crashed to the ground and are completely crushed."

The death toll was expected to rise, the Interior Ministry said. A doctor at Mohammed V hospital in Al Hoceima said were "many deaths and many injured."

"Most of the injured have broken bones," he said. "Houses collapsed. It was a very, very violent jolt."

According to the US Geological Survey, the 6.5-magnitude quake was centred 100 miles north-east of Fez in the Mediterranean Sea. It occurred about one mile underground at 2:27am local time while many people were asleep.

While a tourist destination because of its Mediterranean beaches, the region suffers from extreme poverty and underdevelopment because of government neglect following a Berber rebellion in 1960. The local economy is sustained by fishing and by farmers who grow cannabis.

The quake which reverberated across the Strait of Gibraltar was felt across much of southern Spain, but no damage or injuries were reported there. News reports said it was most noticed in tall apartment blocks of southern Andalusia and south-east Murcia. The quake was also felt in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla.