The number of people killed in Friday’s powerful earthquake in Morocco has risen to 2,497, the interior ministry says
Rescuers have been using their bare hands to dig for survivors
Heavy lifting equipment can’t get through roads blocked by boulders to reach remote villages near the epicentre in the Atlas Mountains
Many lie in ruins with local people desperately awaiting aid.
The Moroccan government says it has accepted aid from four countries so far – Britain, Spain, Qatar and the UAE.
Friday’s earthquake, the country’s deadliest in 60 years, struck below villages in the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh.
BBC reporter Nick Beake reached the village of Tafeghaghte, where 90 of the 200 residents were confirmed dead, and many others missing.
The whole country of Morocco has mobilised to help communities devastated by the earthquake, a British journalist living in the High Atlas Mountains has told the BBC.
Alice Morrison spoke to BBC News a little earlier from the market town of Asni, where tents have been erected by the government to house those who have lost everything in the quake.
A field hospital has been set up nearby and the army has mobilised; as one soldier told Morrison, “this is our national duty, but it’s more than a duty”.
Helicopters can be heard flying overhead, trying to reach isolated villages.
