Poor farmers architects of own tragedy

One of the tragedies of the Moroccan earthquake is that many of its impoverished victims were the unwitting architects of their own demise.

In outlying villages reduced in Tuesday's quake to an arc of mourners stretching south of this port and beach resort, mud was the main material used by the poor to construct their homes.

A victim of fate or simple economics, the remote quake-prone Rif region has been under-developed for decades, the result of a failed rebellion put down almost four decades ago by the late King Hassan, then crown prince.

"Farming, in its most basic form, is the mainstay of Ait Daoud's population," said Driss Haddouti, a representative on the local council in the sparse mountain hamlet.

"All the houses that were destroyed were built in mud bricks. They can't build safer houses with the income they (villagers) are getting," he added.

Of the 150 houses that make up the settlement only two remain unscathed - both built from red brick, concrete and steel.

Two-thirds of the Rif region's population - around 100,000 families - enhance their income by growing cannabis. But even they earn an average of just $2,550 a year, according to a UN-backed report published last month.

That makes quake-proof homes a luxury few can afford. "People here like to build their houses themselves but very often at the cost of safety," said Jacky Rusquart, a French relief expert who advises the Moroccan Red Crescent.

"What I noticed here is that the flagstones are wafer-thin and the construction material doesn't contain enough iron and concrete," he added.

The same factor was blamed for the huge loss of life in the southern Iranian city of Bam, struck by a quake in December that killed over 40,000 people in stark contrast to a similar one a week earlier in California that killed only two people.

Experts say mud bricks disintegrate easily, suffocating many who survive the actual quake.

"The fact that houses built with mud bricks don't have metal reinforcements explains the extent of the damage," local architect Mohamed Sheikh told the state news agency MAP.

Disregard for building regulations was blamed for the collapse of supposedly more robust modern structures. One observer said four-storey buildings in nearby Im-Zouren had collapsed "like a pack of cards".

The official death toll on Wednesday stood at 565, but the mounds of mud, broken beams and twisted metal that litter the slopes of this inaccessible region still hide many bodies.

Robbed of their livelihoods, survivors like Ait Daoud resident Abdelhamid Moutaqqi say they regret being spared.

"That's where my two sons and daughter slept last night and I used the only blanket we have to keep them warm," said Moutaqqi, a peasant in his early 40s, pointing to the heap of mud-bricks that was once home to his 10-strong family.

"We have no clothes, no food no gas and I've lost my 20 sheep. They are all under there and we are hungry," he said struggling to hold back tears as other women started crying.

"The rest of the family and myself slept outside, and now I'm waiting for my clothes to dry on me. I envy those who died because this life is not worth living like that."