Summary

  • The number of people killed in Friday's powerful earthquake in Morocco has risen to 2,681, 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

  1. Delivering food and water by helicopterpublished at 13:25 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Alice Cuddy
    Travelling to quake-hit village of Ouirgane

    We’ve just stopped at the side of the road where people are gathered taking photos of a helicopter.

    Representatives of World Central Kitchen tell me they are using the helicopter to deliver food and water to hard-to-reach communities in the mountains.

    They have visited four villages so far, distributing items like bread, fruit and milk, and say they will continue making deliveries constantly throughout the day.

    A photograph of a helicopter in Morocco
  2. Neighbour's wife and four children died when their house collapsedpublished at 13:18 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Paul Pradier
    Reporting from Moulay Brahim

    A pile of rubble in the middle of three brick walls
    Image caption,

    Said’s neighbour's house collapsed on Friday, killing five people, including four children

    Here in this village in the Atlas mountain, 26-year-old Said is in a complete state of shock.

    On Friday evening his neighbour’s house collapsed when the earthquake hit.

    “A family of six people lived there. The father was outside at the time and is still alive, but his wife and four children were there and died” he says, with a soft, emotional voice.

    “The daughters were 15, eight and five years old. The last child was a little boy about to turn three” he tells me, struggling to find the words to express his horror.

    Said has not been able to sleep or eat since Friday night.

    “The situation is catastrophic. I don’t know how I will recover from this”, he concludes.

  3. Recap: Blocked roads and an impossible choicepublished at 13:03 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    If you're just joining us or need a recap, we now know that 2,497 people have died in Friday's earthquake in Morocco. The hunt for survivors continues, but response teams are struggling to bring in machinery to remote areas and in some places villagers have been digging by hand and shovel to find survivors.

    With many isolated villages in the High Atlas Mountains flattened by the force of the earthquake, we're hearing from a lot of communities devastated by the earthquake and struggling to get aid:

  4. Spanish rescue teams deployedpublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    A photo of a Spanish search and rescue team in MoroccoImage source, Spanish Defence Ministry
    Image caption,

    Spanish search and rescue teams are in Morocco

    Spain's defence ministry has shared photos of one of the Spanish search and rescue teams which have been deployed to Morocco.

    As well as locating victims of the quake, this unit will also be helping to coordinate the aid response with the rest of the international teams, the ministry said in a statement on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

    As we've been reporting, Spain is one of four countries that Morocco has accepted aid offers from.

  5. A struggle to find petrolpublished at 12:38 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Alice Cuddy
    Travelling to quake-hit village of Ouirgane

    We’re still en route to the village of Ouirgane and can now see the Atlas Mountains in the distance. We’ve been struggling to find petrol on the way.

    A man at one petrol station just told us they’d been overwhelmed by people passing through since the earthquake.

    We have also picked up some water as we don’t know how long we will be out for and many of the mountain communities worst impacted by the earthquake have been struggling to get basic supplies.

    Van on road towards Atlas Mountains
  6. Inside a village devastated by the earthquakepublished at 12:28 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    In remote villages, survivors of the earthquake are coping with trauma while lacking both food and shelter.

    The BBC's Tom Bateman reports from Moulay Brahim in Morocco's Atlas mountains.

  7. get involved

    Send us your storiespublished at 12:12 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

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  8. Satellite images show destructionpublished at 12:01 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    The destruction caused by the earthquake in Morocco can be seen in some of the satellite imagery which has been released.

    Relief tents have been set up on sports fields and parks for those affected by the quake in Amizmiz, near Marrakesh.
    Image caption,

    Relief tents have been set up on sports fields and parks in the remote village of Amizmiz

    Satellite images show rows of buildings in Talat N’Yaaqoub that collapsed as a result of the earthquake
    Image caption,

    Rows of buildings in Talat N’Yaaqoub have collapsed

  9. Death toll increasespublished at 11:44 British Summer Time 11 September 2023
    Breaking

    The number of people who died in Friday's earthquake has now risen to 2,497, the interior ministry says.

    This is up from the previous figure of 2,122.

    Another 2,476 people were injured, the ministry said, which has risen from 2,400 wounded.

  10. Heading out to a village outside Marrakeshpublished at 11:36 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Alice Cuddy
    Travelling to quake-hit village of Ouirgane

    Alice Cuddy and Wahid El Moutanna

    I’m heading out now to the village of Ouirgane, over an hour from Marrakesh.

    After reporting in the Atlas Mountains yesterday, we spent the night in a hotel in the city, where areas have also been devastated by the quake.

    I’m working with Wahid El Moutanna and we’re just loading up the car.

    We’re also packing sleeping bags and ready meals in case we head further into the mountains and need to camp out.

    Video footage shows Ouirgane has been badly hit but we don’t know exactly what we’ll see until we get there.

    We’ll bring you updates on our way.

  11. Earthquake brings memories of deadly Agadir tremor in 1960published at 11:24 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    A hotel destroyed by an earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, in 1960Image source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    This hotel was destroyed by an earthquake in Agadir in 1960

    With a magnitude of 6.8, the earthquake which hit central Morocco is the biggest the area has seen since before 1900.

    But many people have been immediately reminded of the devastating earthquake that struck Agadir in 1960.

    Smaller on the Richter scale - a magnitude of 5.7 - it hit the southern Moroccan city on the 29 February, killing at least 12,000 people, a third of the city's population. It remains the deadliest earthquake in the country's history.

    Hotels, restaurants, shops and the central market were destroyed, with thousands of people left buried under concrete.

  12. 'I had to choose between my parents and son'published at 11:08 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Alice Cuddy
    Reporting from the Atlas Mountains

    Tayeb ait Ighenbaz was forced to choose whether to save his 11-year-old son or his parents when they became trapped under rubble after Morocco's earthquake struck.

    The goat herder from a tiny community in the Atlas Mountains says he is haunted by the decision he had to make.

    When he ventured back inside his fallen house after the earthquake, he found both his son and his parents trapped under the debris, his son's hand poking through the rubble.

    He knew he had to act quickly, and headed in the direction of his son Adam, digging desperately through the rubble to pull him out.

    When he turned to his parents, trapped under a large slab of stone, he says it was too late.

    "I had to choose between my parents and son," he says with tears in his eyes.

    "I saw my parents dying."

    You can read the full story here

    Tayeb ait Ighenbaz and his son Adam
  13. French aid offer not yet acceptedpublished at 10:57 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    As we have been reporting, Rabat has so far accepted aid offers from four countries - Spain, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

    Offers from other nations have not been accepted yet - including from France, the north African country's former colonial power.

    French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna insisted it was up to Morocco to ask for French aid.

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

    She described the issues as "a misplaced controversy," when asked on she told BFM television why Morocco had not made an official request.

    The French government has pledged €5m ($5.4m) to aid organisations on site in Morocco.

    Paris and Rabat have had a difficult relationship in recent years.

    Although French officials have repeatedly denied any rift, Morocco’s ambassador post in Paris has been empty for months and a visit to Rabat by President Emmanuel Macron has been postponed several times.

    Moroccan authorities say they are assessing aid offers because "a lack of co-ordination could be counter-productive".

  14. 'We tried to reach the villages but had to turn back'published at 10:40 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Mina Metioui, from the British Moroccan Society, has tried to reach some of the villages impacted by the earthquake.

    She told the BBC that even before the earthquake, the roads in the remote parts of the area were treacherous: "You really have to say your prayers and hope you come back down in one piece otherwise if you go over they'll never find you."

    "It was bad enough as it was then but now the rocks have fallen down," she says, "we tried to get to villages we couldn't get to, we stopped and had to turn back".

    "The villages have suffered the worst. The Old Medina has suffered. The villages and roads are blocked off."

    "Some people braved it and walked over the rocks to get to the other side but...we can't do anything going over the rocks and looking at the people.

    "We need the aid to get in. So the roads need to be cleared and that's the most important thing."

    A satellite image shows a road blocked by a landslide, in AmsguineImage source, Maxar / Reuters
    Image caption,

    This satellite image shows a road blocked by a landslide, in Amsguine, Morocco

  15. How might medical teams reach the affected areas?published at 10:14 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    We've heard this morning from UK-Med, which is sending a team to assess how medical care can be provided to people in the areas hit by the earthquake.

    A five-person team flew to Morocco this morning, including a medical lead, a paramedic, a water and sanitation engineer, a logistics expert and a team leader.

    CEO David Wightwick said: "We will link up with the local authorities and head up to the affected area to see what the extent of the needs are.

    "We can bring an entire field hospital if it's required, we can have mobile teams by car or helicopter or foot and we can bring in a surgical team but we need to see what works best in the communities first."

  16. 'A pretty devastating picture emerging here'published at 09:55 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    James Copnall
    Reporting from Marrakesh

    It's a pretty devastating picture here that is emering over the last couple of days.

    Well over 2,100 people are known to have died, even more are injured, with many in critical conditions, putting lots of pressure on hospitals.

    A very desperate search is taking place for people buried in the rubble in villages.

    These are in many places remote villages, which are very difficult to get to at the best of times and now rocks have fallen, following Friday's earthquake.

    There has also been an extraordinary effort from fellow Moroccans here in Marrakesh to help out those who need it.

  17. 'The horror is starting to sink in' - journalist in High Atlas Mountainspublished at 09:38 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Alice Morrison speaking with rubble behind
    Image caption,

    Alice lives in one of the villages impacted by the earthquake

    The horror of the earthquake is only starting to sink in for people in southern Morocco, a British journalist living in the High Atlas Mountains has told the BBC.

    Alice Morrison, who lives in Imlil, says she thought she was going to die during the tremors, describing them as "completely and utterly terrifying".

    She tells BBC Breakfast that communities in the High Atlas Mountains are sleeping outside because of fears any homes left standing are no longer safe to be inside.

    But Morrison says people have also "banded together" in tented camps - including the imam of the local mosque, which has been badly damaged, who has laid out a rug for people to pray on.

    Quote Message

    The adrenaline is wearing off now and I think the horror of it starting to sink in."

  18. 'We need help, please help us'published at 09:19 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Tom Bateman
    Reporting from the Atlas Mountains

    Hakima, wrapped in a patterned blanket, on bare hillside
    Image caption,

    Hakima, pictured here wrapped in a patterned blanket, has recently lost her husband

    We arrive in the village of Moulay Brahim before dawn. The car can’t make it up one of the slopes and we get out to walk. Rubble seems to have slipped down a hillside where families in tents made of tarpaulins are starting to wake.

    There's a sharp mountain chill. “We need help, please help us” says Hakima, wrapped in a blanket. She shows me a small encampment where people have spent a third night in the open. A family of eight is together in one small tent. Hakima sits and weeps.

    Her husband was sick and had recently died. Now she can’t find her son, who she says went to help after the quake struck. She hasn’t heard from him since.

    Across the High Atlas Mountains, home to some of Morocco’s most marginalised, the scale of destruction is starting to take shape. Entire villages have been wiped out, but the rescue and aid response is patchy and slow.

    In Moulay Brahim another resident, Mohammed, tells me they’ve pulled 40 bodies from the rubble in 48 hours. Islamic ritual requires a fast burial - the earthquake has turned parts of the red rugged hillside into makeshift cemeteries.

    Hakima is too scared to return to her damaged home and has been sleeping in the mosque. What do you need, I ask? “What do we need? Only God will help us now", responds Hakima.

    Damage after Morocco earthquake
  19. What aid is on the way?published at 09:08 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    People camping by the roadside in Imgdal, MoroccoImage source, Reuters

    As we noted earlier, Rabat has accepted aid offers from Spain, the UK, Qatar and United Arab Emirates:

    • The UK has sent 60 rescuers, four dogs and a four-person medical assessment team. The resources include key equipment for finding people in the rubble - concrete cutters and seismic listening devices.
    • Spain has sent 86 rescuers and eight search dogs
    • Several planes have also taken off from Qatar carrying rescue teams and emergency aid.

    Offers from other countries - such as France - have not been accepted yet.

    Moroccan authorities say they are assessing aid offers because "a lack of co-ordination could be counter-productive".

    China and France are among several other nations which have pledged financial support to Morocco. The US has also offered support and said a team of disaster experts arrived on the ground on Sunday.

  20. Seven teachers killed and hundreds of schools damagedpublished at 08:45 British Summer Time 11 September 2023

    Morocco’s education ministry has temporarily suspended learning for students in the regions most impacted by the earthquake.

    It said on Sunday that it was looking into ways that students could continue learning as their regions recover.

    The ministry added that so far, seven teachers were known to have died, while 39 others had sustained injuries.

    It said 585 schools were damaged by the earthquake and some pupils may have to transfer to different schools.