Angry survivors from Morocco’s minority Berber community have accused the government of abandoning them after the huge earthquake that rocked their neglected region, killing nearly 600 people and leaving thousands homeless.

Rescue teams were combing the rubble of mud-and-stone houses today after a massive earthquake killed more than 550 people in a desperately poor region of northern Morocco.

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.

A powerful earthquake struck as northern Morocco slept early today, toppling houses and killing at least 300 people, local authorities said.