Angry quake survivors demand more disaster aid

AL HOCEIMA, Morocco -- Earthquake survivors in a devastated region of northern Morocco halted relief trucks and pounded on their windshields Thursday, angry that they were not receiving tents and blankets. Two days after a powerful quake killed nearly 600 people, Moroccan government efforts were so disorganized that 40 Spanish firefighters returned home in frustration. Spanish relief workers complained Moroccan authorities were hampering their work. Moroccan officials called off rescue efforts, saying all the missing had been accounted for. About 400 people were injured. Tensions were high among survivors in the impoverished region in the northern Rif mountains where minority Berbers live. Thousands were left homeless by the quake.

In the village of Ajdir, 200 angry men forced trucks headed for another hard-hit village to halt. Young men with knives threatened to cut the ropes tying blankets to the backs of trucks.

"We've been waiting for three days. They are taking all this aid elsewhere, but we need it here, too," said Abderrahim Idrissi, 35, a French teacher. "They've given us nothing."

Idrissi, his wife and two children said they are desperate for tents and blankets after spending windy, wet nights sleeping under plastic sheets.

"We've been sleeping like animals," said Fikri Yaya, a student.

The earthquake, which partially leveled a half-dozen villages near the north Mediterranean city of Al Hoceima, has triggered discontent about a variety of ills in an area long neglected by the government. Many of the men in the region leave to find work in Europe, and those who stay often find work growing marijuana.

Tents were being erected in and around Al Hoceima, but survivors said they weren't going up quickly enough.

At a protest there, some 200 people protested in front of a regional government office, shouting, "We are hungry and there's nothing to eat!" An equal number of police stood by.

Communications Minister Nabil Benabdellah issued a statement denying news reports the military intervened to disperse the protesters.

As many as 20,000 people need emergency housing, either because their homes were destroyed or because they were too afraid of aftershocks to sleep indoors, said Mohamed Bourad, a physician at Mohammed V Hospital in Al Hoceima and president of the city's local council.

Several aftershocks were felt following the quake, causing panic.

Aid poured in from around the world, leaving many to wonder why it wasn't reaching survivors. A U.S. military charter flight carrying blankets arrived overnight from a base in Italy, and a U.S. shipment of medicine was to arrive from Germany. France, Portugal, Belgium, Finland and Spain were among the nations that helped.

King Mohammed VI was expected to visit the quake zone Friday, officials said on condition of anonymity.

The area is home to Morocco's Berbers and one of the most underdeveloped areas of the Mediterranean basin. Berbers, who have their own language, are considered the original inhabitants of North Africa.

The Rif region was deeply mistrusted by Mohammed's father, the late King Hassan II, who quashed a rebellion of Berber tribes in 1958 while he was still crown prince. Mohammed has taken some steps to integrate the north more fully into the kingdom.