A powerful earthquake killed at least 564 people in northern Morocco on Tuesday, toppling mud-brick homes and burying residents in their sleep under tons of rubble.  

"The death toll has risen to 564," Health Minister Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah told state television 2M.

Hundreds of others were reported injured in and around the Mediterranean port city of Al Hoceima in the earthquake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale.

In the village of Ait Kamara, 11 miles to the south, many houses were flattened like cardboard boxes.

"I woke up to a big bang, I don't even remember how I managed to escape from the house," said Abdelkhalek, a teacher who did not want to give his full name.

His parents, three brothers and one sister died in their home reduced to rubble in the nearby hamlet of Ait Abdelaziz where he said 70 percent of houses were destroyed.

"My sister was shouting, begging me to lift a big, heavy door under which she was trapped. We could not, she died," he said, sobbing.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at around 2:30 am when people were asleep.

Dozens of aftershocks and rain complicated relief efforts in the outlying villages in the foothills of the Rif Mountains in a predominantly Berber area.

Overflowing hospital

"It's a total disaster, the world needs to help us," Hassan Hmidouch, head of the town council in the village of Im-Zouren, told Reuters Television.

"We don't have sniffer dogs or any equipment to lift or cut iron bars," he told 2M state television earlier.

Residents, some digging with their bare hands or shovels in their flattened homes, said heavy equipment was needed.

"They sent the military which basically ordered us to stop digging but they couldn't do much themselves for lack of equipment," Abdelkhalek said.

In Al Hoceima, a fishing port and beach resort of about 70,000 inhabitants, damage was limited but authorities struggled to cope with hundreds of victims.

North Africa's last major earthquake hit neighboring Algeria last May. It measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and killed 2,300 people near the capital, Algiers.

Morocco's worst recorded quake was on February 29, 1960. It destroyed the Atlantic city of Agadir, killing 12,000 people.

"As soon as we think we've seen all the dead and injured, more keep coming in ambulances," said a doctor at the main Mohammed V hospital, where dozens of corpses were laid out.

Many of the injured were being treated in army barracks, health centers and charity homes. Others were airlifted to the capital, Rabat, Casablanca and Meknes.

Josephine Shields, an official with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Tunis, said six villages within 10 miles of Al Hoceima had been hit.

"We've been told that the entire affected area has between 300,000 and 400,000 people. It is a remote area, very mountainous, so it is a bit difficult to access."

She said victims needed blankets, warm clothing, food and water. "There is possibly a need for a field hospital as local health facilities are basically saturated," she added.

Morocco's state MAP news agency said a rescue operation involving the army and navy was under way and King Mohammed planned to visit the disaster area.

(China Daily February 25, 2004)