The epicenter of Friday's earthquake was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, some 70 km south of Marrakesh.

In a residential neighborhood in Amizmiz, Xinhua reporters saw police and local residents digging through the rubble with shovels and even with their bare hands as machines can not pass the narrow alleys.

Bouchiba added that at the epicenter were densely populated, mountainous villages, where fickle weather makes rescue work all the more challenging.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has allocated 1 million Swiss francs (1.12 million US dollars) from its emergency disaster fund to assist the Moroccan Red Crescent (MRC) in its on-site efforts.

On Saturday, the Red Cross Society of China announced that it would provide the MRC with 200,000 dollars in cash as emergency humanitarian assistance for its rescue and disaster relief work.

By Monday evening, the earthquake had killed 2,862 people and injured at least 2,562 in Morocco, according to the latest update from the Interior Ministry.