Morocco's Interior Ministry said Saturday morning that at least 632 people had died, mostly in Marrakech and five provinces near the quake's epicenter. Another 329 people were injured. Casualty figures were expected to rise more as the search continues and as rescuers reach remote areas.

Moroccan television showed scenes from the aftermath, as many stayed outside fearing aftershocks. Anxious families stood in streets or huddled on the pavement, some carrying children, blankets or other belongings.

Emergency workers looked for survivors in the rubble of buildings, their reflective yellow vests illuminating the nighttime landscape. The quake ripped a gaping hole in a home, and a car was nearly buried by the chunks of a collapsed building.

Moroccan media reported that the 12th century Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, one of the city's most famed landmarks, suffered damage, but the extent was not immediately clear. Its 69-meter (226-foot) minaret is known as the "roof of Marrakech."

The head of a town near the earthquake's epicenter told Moroccan news site 2M that several homes in nearby towns had partly or totally collapsed, and electricity and roads were cut off in some places.