Morocco earthquake live: Offers of aid flow in, but not without controversy

Good morning Middle East Eye readers.

As Moroccans come to terms with their initial shock following the devastating earthquake on Friday, attention has now turned to the worst-hit villages in the High Atlas mountains.

Rescue workers are in a race against time to reach dozens of remote villages scattered around Marrakech, in the epicentre of the quake.

Due to the rugged terrain and road blockages caused by falling rocks, many small towns have been cut off.

More than 2,100 people have died and more than 2,421 are injured, many critically. That number is likely to increase as emergency responders face an uphill battle to find survivors in the coming hours. 

Some villages have been completely flattened, with the extent of losses not yet fully known, as response teams are struggling to bring in machinery to some remote areas. 

Keep an eye on MEE's live blog for updates throughout the day, and follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. 

We will shortly be ending our liveblog of the Moroccan earthquake for the evening. 

Join us in the morning for the latest developments as Moroccan emergency services, helped by international rescue organisations, continue the search for survivors and devastated communities begin to come to terms with the country's most deadly earthquake in decades.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has thanked Spain, Qatar, the UK and the UAE for sending aid in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit the country on Friday, state TV said in a post on social media site X (formerly known as Twitter) late on Sunday.

Morocco assessed aid needs and considered the importance of coordinating relief efforts before accepting help from the four countries, it added.

Britain said on Sunday that it was deploying search and rescue teams to Morocco.

"Sixty UK search and rescue specialists, four search dogs and rescue equipment deployed to Morocco," Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement, adding that it was deploying the rescue team on Sunday via two Royal Air Force A400M aircraft.

"Foreign Secretary has spoken to Foreign Minister (Nasser) Bourita and UK remains in close contact with the Moroccan authorities," the FCDO added.

Lord Ahmad, minister of state for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the UN at the FCDO, wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): "Pleased that after an overnight mobilisation - UK International Search & Rescue Team is on its way to Marrakech to provide life-saving support after the devastating earthquake. UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Morocco at this tragic time."

The death toll from the earthquake has risen to 2,122 with another 2,421 people injured, according to the Moroccan interior ministry. 

More than 1,400 of those wounded are in critical condition, officials said earlier.

Aerial footage captured by Moroccan media showed the scale of destruction near the epicentre of the earthquake, which has wiped out entire villages in some areas.

Grief-stricken families held funerals on Sunday for the earthquake victims as rescue workers pulled more bodies from under the rubble in some of the worst-hit areas. 

"I've lost everything," Lahcen, a resident of the mountain village of Moulay Brahim, told AFP.

Rescue workers recovered the bodies of his three daughters from the rubble of their home, but had not yet found the remains of his wife and son.

"I can't do anything about it now. I just want to get away from the world and mourn," he said.

Meanwhile, volunteers arrived at some mountain villages, bringing basic food items and blankets, donated by citizens from nearby cities. 

At a McDonald's in the uptown neighbourhood of Gueliz in Marrakech, verses from the Quran have replaced the Moroccan pop that is usually played.

Twenty-four hours after the violent earthquake that shook the province of Al Haouz, 400km southwest of the capital Rabat, Marrakech is a city without a soul.

On Saturday night, the tourist city, some 70km away from the epicentre, was in mourning.

Many locals chose to spend a second night in a row under the stars, for fear of aftershocks or simply because they have nowhere to go. On several major roads and green spaces of the city, dozens of people lay on the grass, some alone and others with their families.

In the southeast of the city, in the Sidi Youssef Ben Ali neighbourhood, Bilal still does not dare to return home.

"I'm still traumatised by what I experienced yesterday. I'd rather stay here with my wife and six-year-old son than risk death because of a collapsing roof," he told Middle East Eye before recounting what he lived the night before.

"It lasted more than 20 or 25 seconds. The dishes in the kitchen woke us up. At first, I heard the glasses break as they fell. But very quickly, I felt the whole house moving in all directions."

Read more: ‘I’m still traumatised’: Moroccans sleep in the open as officials accused of slow response

Morocco's deadly earthquake badly damaged one of the most important historical sites in the High Atlas mountains, an earth-and-stone mosque built by a medieval dynasty that ruled North Africa and Spain.

Moroccan media reported that parts of the Tinmel Mosque had collapsed. Photographs circulating online showed tumbled walls, a half-fallen tower and large piles of debris. 

Middle East Eye could not immediately verify the images.

Responding to a Reuters question about the reported damage to Tinmel, a Moroccan culture ministry source said "the ministry has decided to restore it and will make budget for it", without giving details.

The 12th-century mosque was built where the Almohad dynasty established its first capital in a remote Atlas valley before going on to seize Marrakech, proclaim its leader caliph and march on across the region.

The United Nations cultural agency Unesco said it had heard of "very important destructions to the Tinmel Mosque", which had been proposed for listing as a World Heritage Site, but added it was still waiting to send a team to assess the damage.

A 3.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Marrakech-Safi region, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Sunday's quake occurred just before 9am local time in the southern part of the region, close to the epicentre of Friday's deadly earthquake.

Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares told local radio on Sunday that Morocco had made the formal request for help.

Albares said Spain, Morocco's closest European neighbour, would be sending search and rescue teams to try and find people alive.

Brahim Boudad spent six nervous hours on Friday night. 

His family were in Amizmiz, a small Moroccan town at the base of the High Atlas, while he was some 55km away in Marrakech, when the devastating earthquake hit. 

"My family were trapped inside," Boudad told Middle East Eye. "I was waiting [for news] until 1 am. Then my father called me, it made me so happy."

Boudad's family were among the lucky ones. In the small town, at least 25 people are estimated to have died, one resident said. Many houses were flattened. 

Amizmiz, home to some 20,000 people, is located in Al Haouz province, the epicentre of the earthquake and the hardest-hit region.

After a day of horrors on Saturday, the evening brought an uneasy pause. Residents had spent the day looking for survivors using basic tools, as outside help was slow to arrive. People with harrowing experiences gathered in open spaces, with little movements on the streets.

Read more: Remote and isolated, mountain villages struggle to cope after devastating quake

France said it was ready to help Morocco after a powerful quake killed over 2,000 people, but is waiting for a formal request of help from the Moroccan authorities, a French foreign ministry representative said on Sunday.

"Our embassy in Morocco is fully mobilised... today Moroccan authorities are in charge... An assessment [of the situation] is under way... At this stage Morocco has not asked for help," Anne-Claire Legendre told BFM television.

French President Emmanuel Macron is among world leaders who offered help on Saturday to Morocco, saying France stood ready to help rescue efforts.

Rescue workers are scrambling to reach remote villages in the Atlas mountains after Friday's earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people.  

Earlier on Saturday, soldiers from Morocco's Royal Armed Forces reached the mountain village of Tafeghaghte, southwest of Marrakech, where many houses crumbled during the quake. 

Morocco's justice minister told Al Jazeera that Friday night's earthquake destroyed a number of villages in the Taroudant region.