Morocco earthquake – live: Race to find survivors as death toll tops 2,901

Moroccan soldiers and aid teams in trucks and helicopters battled Monday to reach remote mountain towns devastated by a monstrous earthquake that killed more than 2,400 people, with survivors desperate for help to find loved ones feared trapped under the rubble.

Moroccan officials have so far accepted government-offered aid from just four countries — Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates — and some foreign aid teams said they were awaiting permission to deploy. Morocco’s Interior Ministry says officials want to avoid a lack of coordination that “would be counterproductive.”

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Rescuers digging on Monday through the rubble after Morocco’s deadly earthquake warned that the traditional mud brick, stone and rough wood housing omnipresent in the High Atlas mountains reduced the chances of finding survivors.

"It’s difficult to pull people out alive because most of the walls and ceilings turned to earthen rubble when they fell, burying whoever was inside without leaving air spaces," a military rescue worker, asking not to be named because of army rules against speaking to media, said at an army centre south of the historic city of Marrakech not far from the quake epicentre.

Morocco’s most powerful earthquake since at least 1900 has killed at least 2,497 people, the state news agency said in its latest update of the human toll on Monday, with thousands more injured and many still missing.

With many homes fashioned out of mud bricks and timber or cement and breeze blocks, structures crumbled easily in mounds of debris when the quake struck late on Friday evening, without creating the pockets of air that earthquake-ready concrete buildings can provide.

The death toll from the earthquake has risen to nearly 2,500, officials have said.

The Moroccan Armed Forces said on X, formerly Twitter, that the death as of Monday AM was 2,497.

Some 2,476 have been injured.

The epicenter was high in the Atlas Mountains about 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech in Al Haouz province.

The region is largely rural, made up of red-rock mountains, picturesque gorges and glistening streams and lakes.

The earthquake shook most of Morocco and caused injury and death in other provinces, including Marrakech, Taroudant and Chichaoua.

Of the 2,122 deaths reported as of Sunday evening, 1,351 were in Al Haouz, a region with a population of around 570,000, according to Morocco’s 2014 census.

People speak a combination of Arabic and Tachelhit, Morroco’s most common Indigenous language. Villages of clay and mud brick built into mountainsides have been destroyed.

Here are some of the latest images from Morocco:

France's foreign minister has said it is up to Morocco whether to seek French aid that the country is ready to help if asked.

Paris and Rabat have had a difficult relationship in recent years notably over the issue of Western Sahara, which Morocco wants France to recognise as Moroccan. Morocco has not had an envoy in Paris since January.

"This is a misplaced controversy," Catherine Colonna told BFM television when asked why Morocco had not made an official request to Paris for urgent assistance despite accepting help from Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

"We are ready to help Morocco. It's a sovereign Moroccan decision and it's up to them to decide," she said.

Rescuers continue to dig to find survivors in the rubble more than 48 hours after Morocco's deadliest earthquake in more than six decades.

Search teams from Spain and Britain are joining efforts to find survivors of the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck late on Friday night 40 miles (70km) southwest of Marrakech.

Search-and-rescue specialists with sniffer dogs have been sent by Britain and Spain. For its part, Qatar said on Sunday its search-and-rescue team departed for Morocco.

The death toll is rising following a catastrophic earthquake in Morocco late at night on Friday 8 September. More than 2,000 people have been killed and injured after the 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck.

The epicentre was about 70km (43 miles) southwest of Marrakech – the fourth-biggest city in Morocco, and by far the most popular draw for international visitors.

Thousands of British holidaymakers are in the area, with many thousands more booked to go there during September. This is the travel picture.

Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in decades are struggling to find food and shelter as the search goes on for those missing and the death toll rises.

The number of dead is now more than 2,122, with another 2,421 injured. Those totals are likely to increase as rescue workers and residents dig through the rubble. Many people on Sunday were preparing to spend a third night in the open after the near-7 magnitude earthquake hit late on Friday. The quake’s epicentre was around 70km (40 miles) southwest of Marrakech.

Relief workers face the challenge of reaching areas in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled. In the badly-hit village of Amizmiz, residents watched as rescuers used a mechanical digger on a collapsed house. “They are looking for a man and his son. One of them might still be alive,” said Hassan Halouch, a retired builder. The team eventually recovered only bodies.

As the country mourns the loss of life after the devastating earthquake that killed more than 2000, there is now concern among experts over humanitarian aid reaching the more remote parts of the country.

Samia Errazzouki, an expert in the history and governance of the Moroccan state at Stanford University in California, told the Guardian: “Roads and access to this region [a village near the foot of the Atlas mountains] are already difficult, before you compound that with difficulties like rubble or problems with the roads. It’s going to take a miracle to get immediate aid there.”

“These regions have historically been hit with earthquakes, but they have also been marginalised,” Ms Errazzouki said.

“Obviously we can’t prevent earthquakes, and loss of life is unfortunately inevitable with something of this magnitude. But what can be controlled is how we respond to it and how we deal with it. It takes a crisis, a disaster like this to shed light on the day-to-day realities of people who live in the margins.”