IMIDAL, Morocco (AP) — High in the High Atlas Mountains in central Morocco, hope of finding more survivors quickly faded Tuesday, four days after a devastating earthquake rocked the region and claimed more than 2,900 lives. The magnitude 6.8 quake was unusual for the area and towns and villages, built largely of mud-brick buildings, were extremely vulnerable.
Buildings damaged by the quake were still crumbling from aftershocks on Tuesday as CBS News visited a decimated mountain town where 48 people were killed. According to state media, the country’s Interior Ministry put the confirmed death toll on Tuesday at 2,901, with around 5,530 others injured.
There is only one road into the city where rescuers and helpers can help – a single-lane highway where a traffic jam or a rockfall can mean the difference between life and death.
Rescue workers carry a body recovered from beneath the rubble after a deadly earthquake in Talat N’Yaaqoub, Morocco, September 12, 2023. HANNAH MCKAY/Portal
As time passed, rescuers and residents had to desperately dig through the dirt and rubble to try to save their own brothers, sisters, women and children.
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“I heard my sister screaming, ‘Brother, brother, save us!’ “I saved her, her son and her husband,” Mohamed Ouchen told us. “We used our bare hands because we didn’t have any tools.”
Such scenes of joy, which were more common shortly after the quake, became increasingly rare on the fourth day after the tragedy. Rescue workers only had access to many remote parts of the decimated region on Monday.
The map shows the area affected by a major earthquake near Marrakech, Morocco on September 8, 2023. CBS News
The crucial golden period – the best window to find survivors who might still be struggling to survive under the rubble – was over, and many victims who could have been rescued in the hours immediately after the quake died.
In the High Atlas Mountains, near the earthquake’s epicenter, jagged cliffs, serpentine passages and rustic dwellings proved as deadly as they were impressive.
The mud-brick houses don’t just collapse, they crumble, and when they fall apart, there are often no air pockets left in the pile for survivors. Victims can suffocate from dust.
If there was anyone to save, locals told CBS News they would mostly have to save themselves.
“The government didn’t come, we didn’t see anyone,” resident Mouhamed Aitlkyd told us. “After the earthquake, they only came to count the number of victims. Nobody has been here with us since then.”
The Moroccan government insisted that “from the first seconds” of the disaster, “all civil and military authorities, as well as medical personnel, both military and civilian, worked to intervene quickly and effectively to save the victims and the bodies to recover the martyrs”. Many Moroccans felt compelled to help their compatriots in any way they could.
Thousands dead, earthquakes complicate rescue efforts after earthquake in Morocco
At a blood bank in Marrakech, people line up for hours in the blazing sun to donate.
“I was so sorry, I would like to help,” Sukaina told CBS News as she waited to donate blood. “There are injured people – Moroccan citizens – I am one of them. It is a must for all Moroccans to do the same.”
The government has provided rescuers, medicine and other assistance. CBS News saw several helicopters fly overhead and trucks drive past on their way to the disaster area.
However, most of this movement was to provide aid to the survivors, and there was little hope of finding anyone alive among the ruins.
Moroccan public television showed King Mohammed VI on Tuesday. arrived at a hospital named after him in Marrakesh. The king waved to supporters outside the hospital before visiting survivors and speaking to doctors. A video showed the king kissing a little boy on the head, hugging another patient and donating blood.
In this photo released by the Royal Palace, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI walks. (middle) on September 12, 2023 to the “Mohammed VI” University Hospital in Marrakech, Morocco. Moroccan Royal Palace / AP
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Chris Livesay