The tremor left at least 2,122 dead and 2,421 injured, according to the latest report from the Ministry of the Interior on Sunday afternoon.
“Public authorities are still mobilized to accelerate rescue operations and evacuation of the injured,” said the Ministry of the Interior.
The province of Al Haouz, the epicenter of the earthquake, was the hardest hit, followed by Taroudant. In these two areas located southwest of the tourist city of Marrakeshthe shock destroyed entire villages.
On Sunday, many residents went to hospitals in this city to donate blood for the victims.
national mourning
“I lost everything,” lamented Lahcen, a man who lost his wife and four children in the rural town of Moulay Brahim, in the High Atlas mountain area.
“The only thing I want is to get away from the world and grieve,” said the father of the family who was saved from dying because he was outside his house at the time of the earthquake.
The town of Tafeghaghte, a few kilometers to the west, was practically destroyed by the earthquake, whose epicenter was located just fifty kilometers away, according to an AFP team.
“Three of my grandchildren (12, 8 and 4 years old) and their mother died. They are all under the ruins,” said a devastated 72-year-old Omar Benhanna.
On Saturday, many of the survivors went to the cemetery for the burial of about 70 people, in devastating ceremonies marked by screams and tears.
The kingdom decreed three days of national mourning on Saturday and leaders from around the world, from Spain and France to Israel and the United States, sent condolences to Rabat.
Even Algeria, a neighboring country at odds with Morocco, opened its airspace that has been closed for two years to planes transporting humanitarian aid and evacuating the wounded.
The World Bank affirmed that it will provide “its full support” to the country.