Survivors with shovels worked alongside bulldozers Monday to dig through remote Moroccan villages flattened by a monstrous earthquake, as hope dwindled of finding people alive under wood-and-dirt homes that pancaked into rubble and rescuers overseas waited for Morocco to let them help.
More than 2,400 were killed when the quake struck late Friday -- the strongest in the North African country in more than a century.
The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night's magnitude 6.8 quake, made more dangerous by its relatively shallow depth. On Monday, a teen carried a shovel through the rocks, bulldozers cleaned up debris and survivors steered away from half-wrecked buildings that threatened to collapse.
Offers of help poured in from around the world. But Moroccan authorities frustrated some overseas rescuers who didn't want to deploy without official approval, which wasn't quickly forthcoming. "It's their responsibility. They can do what they want," Fraisse said. "They didn't call. So today we think it's no longer necessary for us to go there, because we won't do effective work."
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Morocco is "the master of its choices, which must be respected." She announced 5 million euros in emergency funds for Moroccan and international non-governmental groups rushing to help survivors. French towns and cities have offered more than 2 million euros in aid, and popular performers are also collecting donations.
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