Morocco earthquake live updates: Desperation and grief as death toll grows

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Rescuers are racing the clock to find survivors in the rubble more than 48 hours after Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades.

Some 2,497 people were killed in a disaster that devastated villages in the High Atlas Mountains.Aftershocks will continue to rock Morocco weeks or months, a seismological expert has warned. Remy Mossu, the director of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, told Sky News that more than 25 aftershocks have already hit the country since the 6.8 magnitude earthquake.

“There will be aftershocks. It is not probably, it is a certainty,” he said.

Some villagers say they are struggling to find enough space to bury their dead as funerals can take place beside rescue work. Others are preparing extra graves ready for more bodies, even as rescue operations continue.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has thanked Spain, Qatar, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates for sending aid, with the UK government set to send 60 search and rescue specialists and four search dogs to Morocco.

The damage from the quake could take several years to repair, according to the Red Cross.

A man looks on as residents navigate through the rubble in the earthquake-damaged old city of Marrakesh on September 9, 2023. A powerful earthquake that shook Morocco late September 8 killed more than 600 people, interior ministry figures showed, sending terrified residents fleeing their homes in the middle of the night. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Women mourn the loss of their loved ones killed in the earthquake, September 10, 2023, in Moulay Brahim, Al Haouz province, Morocco. At least 2,012 people have died and 2,059 others have been injured, 1,404 in critical condition, as a result of the earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale registered late last Friday in the province of Al Hauz, as reported by the Moroccan Interior Ministry. There are 18,000 Spaniards living in Morocco and the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, through the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies, activated yesterday Saturday the State Committee for International Support of Civil Protection to be able to give an immediate response. The Spanish Government has expressed its solidarity and condolences to Morocco and has sent military and humanitarian aid. Today a new earthquake of magnitude 3.9 on the Richter scale has shaken the region of Marrakech. SEPTEMBER 10;2023 Fernando Sánchez / Europa Press 09/10/2023 (Europa Press via AP)
Women mourn loved ones killed in the earthquake in Moulay Brahim, Morocco on September 10. Fernando Sánchez/Europa Press/AP