Search for survivors continues in Morocco following earthquake

Officials in Morocco say more than two thousand people have died in the country’s earthquake disaster this weekend, with many others seriously injured.

Canada’s Red Cross says this is a critical time to get help to the quake survivors.

Rescuers were able to pull a man out of the rubble, injured and bloody but still alive, as they searched throughout the earthquake zone for more survivors, two days after the earthquake hit Friday night.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8, centered not far from the City of Marrakesh in Morocco’s Atlas mountain region.

People were crushed by crumbling buildings and falling rocks.

Chiran Livera is a Rapid Response Manager with the Canadian Red Cross and says hundreds of thousands have been affected.

“There’s immense search and rescue activities going on. They’re still looking for survivors, saving those that are injured, providing medical assistance, providing food and water. So it’s really that lifesaving emergency phase right now,” Livera said.

He says this is a time when rescuers can still save lives.

“I think the next couple of days is really critical for us. One to save as many people as we can, but those we save they require medical assistance psycho support, their families require support.”

Ellen Amster is a McMaster history professor who’s studied Morocco extensively and has led students on fieldwork in the country. Friends there have been sending her videos of the quake aftermath.

“There’s a lot of other people who are not OK, or who’ve passed away, or who are injured and need a lot of help, and the government has been slow to get assistance to these remote areas,” Amster said.

Morocco’s King Mohammed the Sixth met with his staff following the earthquake as an international rescue campaign began.

There’s no word of any Canadians injured or killed in the quake, and the federal government is urging Canadians in the quake zone to register with the embassy there.