Quake victims killed as they slept

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.

Many survivors braved a chilly, wet night without a home in makeshift tents.

The death toll from yesterday’s quake reached 564, according to the official MAP news agency.

The toll climbed steadily as rescuers made their way to hard-to-reach rural areas and found more bodies, officials said.

The quake shook areas near the coastal city of Al Hoceima, an isolated, but picturesque area between the Rif Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. The town was largely spared, but its surrounding villages were devastated by the 6.5-magnitude quake that struck at about 2.30am local time, while most residents slept.

Rescue workers transported the wounded to hospitals and used sniffer dogs to look for survivors under the rubble, as helicopters delivered emergency supplies.

King Mohammed VI planned to travel to the quake zone today. France, Morocco’s former colonial ruler, said it would send a plane with about 15 rescuers and dogs.

Residents used tarpaulins to make tents and shelter themselves in blustery, wet conditions overnight. Some slept outside in plastic chairs, bundled in blankets. Many of those with homes still standing were afraid to sleep indoors for fear of aftershocks.

MAP said 300 people were injured. Of those, 80 were having medical treatment. Abdelbaki Ouazzani, president of Red Crescent for the Al Hoceima region, said area hospitals were overwhelmed.

“The scene was horrible,” Ouazzani said. “All the families and children were crying in the hospitals.”

The Rif mountain region is among the most isolated and underdeveloped areas in the Mediterranean basin. The region’s economy is underpinned by cash sent home from men who moved to Europe to find work. Cannabis fields are another source of money.

The late King Hassan II deeply mistrusted the region and its residents - mostly from minority Berbers. The late king quashed a rebellion of Berber tribes in 1958 while he was still crown prince.

His son Mohammed has taken steps to integrate the north more fully into the Muslim kingdom, financing some infrastructure projects.

Authorities scrambled to reach about a half-dozen remote villages – including Ait Kamara, Tamassint and Imzourn, where 36,000 people live in mud and stone structures unable to withstand a powerful quake.

Josephine Shields of the International Federation of the Red Cross, said she heard reports that Ait Kamara – a village of 6,000 – was destroyed.

Rescuers reported difficulties in reaching the stricken area, located in the foothills of the mountains and served by narrow, poor roads. French LCI television 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.

Several small aftershocks followed the quake. One aftershock with a magnitude of 4.1 was felt outside Al Hoceima at 11.04am, according to MAP.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was centred 100 miles north east of Fez in the Mediterranean Sea.

The quake – which reverberated across the Strait of Gibraltar – was felt across much of southern Spain, but no damage or injuries were reported there.

Morocco’s deadliest earthquake was in 1960, when 12,000 people were killed after a devastating quake destroyed the southern city of Agadir.