Help has yet to arrive in the village of Moulay Brahim in the Atlas mountains where many homes have been reduced to rubble

In a narrow passage in the village of Moulay Brahim, in Morocco’s Atlas mountains, a house had spilled across the lane in a drift of sandy ruins. It was largely unrecognisable from what it once was, save for the unlikely survival of a solitary room left beached atop the rubble, the blue paint of its walls still visible.

Abderahim Imni, with his hand bandaged from where he was injured by falling masonry during Friday’s devastating earthquake, was directing the cleanup in the street where his home once stood.

Rabat has yet to issue appeal for international aid despite powerful quake killing more than 2,000 people

Several countries have offered aid and search support after the Moroccan earthquake, but most of the rescue operation in remote mountain areas was being led by local teams and Rabat has not yet issued a broad demand for international aid.

After a powerful earthquake late on Friday night killed more than 2,000 people, Moroccan authorities this weekend made bilateral contact with certain countries whom they authorised to send expert search and rescue teams. These included Tunisia, who sent 50 paramedics and personnel from a specialised unit, as well as search dogs, advanced thermal monitoring devices, a drone to detect victims under the rubble and a field hospital. Qatar also sent a rescue team and medical crews.