'We feel forgotten' Despair in villages turned to rubble

As the dirt roads leading to some of the areas worst hit in Friday's earthquake in Morocco were gradually cleared, the full extent of the disaster was being revealed, including whole villages destroyed in Al-Haouz province.

- Peter Beaumont

In the tiny hamlet of Tarouiste, in the Atlas mountain foothills above the town of Amizmiz, not one of a dozen houses was left standing. Only the village mosque had not been reduced to rubble.

With the first international search and rescue teams finally deploying to the worst-affected areas yesterday, after a disaster that has claimed at least 2,500 lives, it was clear that the window to find anyone alive beneath the rubble was rapidly closing.

As relief efforts stepped up a gear, the Guardian visited mountain villages that had been almost entirely destroyed, where residents said they felt they had been abandoned. In Tarouiste, people described how they had been left to carry the dead bodies of six neighbours down the mountain where they were met by cars, as no ambulances or other government aid had yet reached them.

"No one has come to help us," said Hassan al-Mati, whose mother was one of those who died, with frustration in his voice. "We need trucks to come to help us move the dead animals buried in the rubble. We need tents and food. We feel like we have been abandoned.

"Six people died in this village and six others were injured. We had to carry them down to the river where we could take them to the hospital in cars."

Like many across these mountains, the villagers of Tarouiste were now sleeping in the open. Hassan took the Guardian to meet his family, who were sitting on carpets shaded from the sun by sheets stretched on wooden poles. Two of the children had uncovered wounds on their faces where they had been hit by falling debris. Two of the women were still visibly in shock, one bursting into tears.