Morocco quake toll at 2,800, rescue underway

Devastation in the central town of Amizmiz, Morocco. Pic/AP

The death toll in the Morocco earthquake has passed 2800 after a powerful 6.8 earthquake hit the country on Friday last week, Al Jazeera reported. The rescue operation is still underway in the country in order to find the survivors.

Search and rescue teams from Spain, the UK, and Qatar have joined Moroccan rescue efforts after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake slammed the High Atlas Mountains late Friday, with the epicentre 72 km southwest of Marrakesh, according to Al Jazeera.

According to state television, the death toll has grown to 2,862, with 2,562 people injured. The traditional mud brick buildings that were common in the area, according to rescuers, limited the odds of locating survivors because they had disintegrated.

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Nearly every building in the mountain village of Tafeghaghte, which is around 60 km from Marrakesh, has been destroyed due to the earthquake. Both survivors and the bodies of the deceased were sought by civilian rescuers and Moroccan military personnel.