Hundreds of thousands live in the traditional mud-brick houses

Hundreds of thousands live in the traditional mud-brick houses. Most deaths were reported in Ait Kamara, thought to be the epicentre of the quake, and it was said to be destroyed. In Imzourn, scores of homes were levelled, burying families as they slept. Dead and wounded were brought in to the main hospital in Al Hoceima all day yesterday, causing the tallies of dead and injured to leap hour by hour. “As soon as we think we’ve seen all the dead and hurt, more keep coming in ambulances,” a doctor at the hospital said.

At a clinic, another doctor trying to deal with the flow described scenes of panic, and said: “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Traumatised survivors set up tents beside their ruined houses and were preparing to spend the night under canvas.King Mohammed cancelled his engagements to take command of the rescue, sending helicopters and teams of soldiers and civilians amid fears that the number of fatalities, mostly in poor areas where the mud-brick buildings were reduced to rubble, would continue to rise. “I was asleep when I heard this terrible noise, like a roaring storm, as objects fell all round us,” said Francisco Bravo, director of a Spanish school in Al Hoceima “It was traumatic I ran into the street like everybody else. Everyone was very afraid because they remembered the earthquake here in 1994, and this one looks worse. “The main square filled up with people, and many got into their cars to drive out of town to escape the danger, they thought So there was a terrible traffic jam. Yesterday, dawn broke over the towns to scenes of devastation. “It’s a real tragedy,” said Mohammed Ziane, a former human rights minister from the port town of Al Hoceima, which is surrounded by the small towns.

“Most people in this area are women, children and old people. The men leave for jobs in the Netherlands and Germany.”This is the worst earthquake to strike Morocco since 1960, when a quake in Agadir on the south-western coast destroyed the city, killing 12,000. For the sleeping women and children and the aged in three isolated Berber towns ­ Ait Kamara, Tamassint and Imzourn, where 30,000 people live in mud and stone homes ­ Morocco’s worst earthquake in more than 40 years spelt disaster. Meanwhile, the new autumn/winter catwalk collection from Anna Molinari was held yesterday at the Fiera Milano. The central premise to the collection was pretty enough: a fluid, full-skirted dress, with a waistband set high and a sexy neckline that plunged into a V-shape.

In line with the rest of Milan, this was a restrained palette that summed up all the major colour trends that will hit stores ­ and filter down into high street collections ­ next autumn.. Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, amazed friends and foes yesterday by summarily sacking his government, less than three weeks before the presidential election. Mr Kasyanov cancelled a provincial trip planned for today, but an official visit to Kazakhstan later this week was still in his diary. Outgoing ministers did not know whether they were supposed to continue with pre-election visits.The government’s official website crashed, as Russians rushed to the internet to find out what was going on.