Search and rescue efforts in Morocco intensified on Saturday after a powerful earthquake killed at least a thousand people and injured hundreds more. National authorities deployed the army in hard-hit areas and foreign partners promised aid.
But it remained unclear how quickly emergency teams could reach victims and prevent more deaths. Many of the areas affected by the earthquake are remote mountain villages that are not easily accessible, and a statement on Saturday evening from King Mohammed VI’s office did not make clear whether the country would formally request foreign assistance to enable external rescue teams to to grasp.
The king ordered the country’s armed forces to deploy planes, helicopters and troops to assist in the rescue efforts, a government statement said. Local television showed images of trucks packed with soldiers heading towards devastated areas in the High Atlas Mountains in the south-west of the country.
Authorities said about half of the victims were in the Haouz region, a rural area with many mud houses and little earthquake-resistant infrastructure.
Some roads have also been blocked by landslides following the earthquake, said Sami Fakhouri, acting head in Morocco of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a major humanitarian network.
“Accessibility will be difficult and it will make rescue efforts more challenging,” Mr Fakhouri said.
The Moroccan government said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that it had restored access to six roads, but that 14 other regional roads were still blocked.
Mr Fakhouri said his organization was working with the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior to deploy medical teams and ambulances to transport both the injured and the dead.
Several governments and charity groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have also offered to send relief and rescue teams. Officials in Turkey, which was hit by a massive and deadly earthquake in February, said the country was ready to send 265 aid workers and 1,000 tents to Morocco.
Other countries, including the United States, France and Taiwan, have also pledged humanitarian aid. But Morocco would first have to formally request help, a step required before foreign crews can be deployed.
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, a government organization, said this in a statement message posted on
In a sign of the scale of the disaster, even countries with a history of conflicted relations with Morocco have pledged to provide aid.
Israel, which only normalized relations with Morocco in 2020, has offered aid, and Algeria, which broke ties with its neighbor two years ago, said it was ready to reopen its airspace for humanitarian and medical flights to Morocco.