<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Using heavy equipment and even their bare hands, rescuers in Morocco on Sunday stepped up efforts to find survivors of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 2,100 people and flattened villages.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first foreign rescuers flew in to help after the North African country's strongest-ever quake killed at least 2,122 people and injured more than 2,400, many seriously, according to official figures updated late on Sunday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Friday's 6.8-magnitude quake struck 72 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of the tourist hub of Marrakesh, wiping out entire villages in the hills of the Atlas mountains.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Sunday an aftershock of magnitude 4.5 rattled the same region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The mountain village of Tafeghaghte, 60 kilometres from Marrakesh, was almost entirely destroyed, an AFP team reported, with very few buildings still standing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amid the debris, civilian rescuers and members of Morocco's armed forces searched for survivors and the bodies of the dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">AFP saw them recover one body from the ruins of a house. Four others were still buried there, residents said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Everyone is gone! My heart is broken. I am inconsolable," cried Zahra Benbrik, 62, who said she had lost 18 relatives, with only the body of her brother still trapped.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I want them to hurry and get him out so I can mourn in peace," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many houses in remote mountain villages were built from mud bricks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the village of Amizmiz, near Tafeghaghte, a backhoe dragged away the heaviest pieces of rubble before rescuers dug into the dusty debris to remove a body that appeared to be under a quilt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Crucial hours -</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;The two villages lie in Al-Haouz province, site of the epicentre, where authorities recorded 1,351 deaths.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Moroccan public television, "more than 18,000 families have been affected" by the quake in Al-Haouz.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Citizens on Sunday rushed to hospitals in Marrakesh to donate blood to help the injured.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Spain's defence ministry said an A400 airlifter took off from Zaragoza with 56 rescuers and four search dogs headed for Marrakesh to "help in the search and rescue of survivors".</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We will send whatever is needed because everyone knows that these first hours are key, especially if there are people buried under rubble," Defence Minister Margarita Robles told Spanish public television.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Marrakesh, resident Fatema Satir had spent two nights sleeping on the streets, like many others fearing their houses might collapse.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There is no help for us," she said. "Our houses have been cracked, others destroyed -- like my daughter's house which was wiped out. We are in a chaotic state."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the city's historic Jemaa el-Fna square, about 20 people were huddled on the ground, wrapped in blankets, while others stayed on the lawn of the nearby town hall, its 12th-century ramparts partially collapsed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The kingdom has declared three days of national mourning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to Spain, Morocco announced on Sunday it had accepted aid from just three other countries -- Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The interior ministry said in a statement it had responded favourably "at this stage" to offers from the four "to send search and rescue teams".</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It said only four offers to help have been accepted because "a lack of coordination could be counterproductive".</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other countries have also offered help.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">French President Emmanuel Macron said his country has mobilised "all technical and security teams to be able to intervene, when the Moroccan authorities deem it useful".</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Macron, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Union and European Commission, also pledged in a joint statement to "mobilise our technical and financial tools and assistance" to help the people of Morocco.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Long recovery ahead -</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States said it also had search-and-rescue teams ready to deploy, and Pope Francis on Sunday again expressed support for those affected by the disaster.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I thank the rescuers and all those who are working to alleviate the suffering of the people," he said from the Vatican window above St Peter's Square.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Algeria, which has long had tense relations with neighbouring Morocco, opened its airspace, which had been closed for two years, to flights carrying humanitarian aid and evacuating the injured.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country in 2020 established ties with Morocco, offered to send search-and-rescue teams, declaring that "Israel stands by Morocco in its difficult time".</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Red Cross warned it could take years to repair the damage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It won't be a matter of a week or two... We are counting on a response that will take months, if not years," said Hossam Elsharkawi, its Middle East and North Africa director.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The quake was the deadliest in Morocco since a 1960 earthquake destroyed Agadir, killing more than 12,000 people. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>