In hard-to-reach areas of the Moroccan earthquake, emergency services are working to the brink of exhaustion in the desperate search for survivors. They have to pick their way through rubble and piles of rubble in extreme heat, sometimes with their bare hands. But the hope of finding people still alive on the fourth day after Friday afternoon’s severe earthquake dwindles by the hour. Dozens of villages were destroyed, Moroccan news site Hespress reported. Not only do residents have to recover and bury the dead, but there is also a lack of food and water.

The head of operations for a British aid group warned on the BBC of a growing risk of disease if aid was delayed further. Meanwhile, emergency services were still trying to penetrate remote mountain villages. Heavy equipment, such as excavators, had to be used to clear debris from roads in the rugged terrain so ambulances could pass after the landslides.

Given this desperate situation in the disaster zones, the Moroccan government is under increasing pressure to accept more international aid. Germany also once again offered its support to the North African country. However, so far the Rabat government has not shown any interest in it. However, Morocco thanked us for the offer, said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Death toll will likely continue to rise

So far, Morocco has only accepted aid from four countries: Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The country’s officials justified this by saying that, in their opinion, it would be too chaotic if teams from all over the world suddenly arrived in Morocco. According to the government, as of Monday night at least 2,862 deaths had been recorded and at least another 2,562 people were injured, many of them seriously. Many people are still missing.

Therefore, it is feared that the number of deaths will continue to increase. Authorities have set up field hospitals near the epicenter to care for the wounded, Justice Minister Abdel Latif Wehbe told Arab television network Al-Arabiya. The exact number of deaths and damage cannot currently be clarified. On Monday, military helicopters dropped aid packages over hard-to-reach mountainous regions.

In addition to humanitarian aid, the population now mainly needs psychological support, explained the humanitarian organization Care: “In addition to the enormous physical devastation, the emotional damage caused by the horror experienced and the fear suffered is very serious,” explained Hlima Razkaoui. Secretary General of Care Morocco, in a report.