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Earthquake strikes northeast Morocco, claims hundreds of lives BY ALI NAJI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AL HOCEIMA, MOROCCO - A powerful earthquake devastated an isolated, picturesque region of northern Morocco on Tuesday, killing more than 560 people, in juring hundreds more and laying ruin to villages that suffered for decades under government neglect. Rescuers with pick axes and sniffer dogs were searching for survivors trapped under the rub ble of their fragile mud-and-stone homes, which crumbled easily in the 6.5-magnitude temblor. Victims were most likely women, children and the elderly because men in the region tend to emigrate to the Netherlands and Germany in search of work, said Mohammed Ziane, a former hu man rights minister. The quake, which rattled apart ment buildings as far away as southern Spain, destroyed rural communities near the coastal city of A1 Hoceima, a hideaway tucked between the Rif Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea that draws European tourists with its sandy beaches. The death toll climbed steadily throughout the day as rescuers be gan reaching the hard-hit areas and finding corpses, officials said. The official MAP news agency said late Tuesday at least 564 people were dead and 300 injured. Of those, 80 people were hospitalized, the agency said. Officials earlier had put the injury toll at 600. Authorities were scrambling to reach about a half-dozen remote villages, including Ait Kamara, Tamassint and Imzourn, where 36,000 people live. Josephine Shields of the International Committee of the Red Cross, citing civil defense of ficials in A1 Hoceima, said she heard reports that Ait Kamara — a village of 6,000 — was destroyed. Rescuers reported difficulties getting to the stricken area in mountain foothills and served by narrow, poor roads. As they ar rived, they found corpses; some families already had buried their dead. French LCI television showed men with pick axes chipping then way through debris left by flat tened buildings — while others used their bare hands — to try to reach trapped victims. More than 200 relief workers from the Moroccan Red Crescent were at the scene, along with he licopters filled with emergency supplies. “The most urgent priority is to search for survivors and give them proper medical attention,” Baddredine Bensaoud, secretary general of the Moroccan Red Crescent, said in a statement. With only light structural dam age in some places, A1 Hoceima it self was largely spared. An aftershock with a magni tude of 4.1 was felt outside A1 Hoceima at 11:04 a.m., according to the official MAP news agency, citing the geophysical laboratory of the National Scientific and Technical Research Center. Although a tourist destination because of its Mediterranean beaches, the region largely suffers from extreme poverty and under development because of govern ment neglect following a Berber rebellion in 1958. The local econo my is sustained by fishing and by farmers who grow cannabis. The temblor reverberated across the Strait of Gibraltar and was centered 100 miles northeast of Fez, about one mile underground * in the Mediterranean, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was felt across much of southern Spain, but no damage or injuries were reported there. News reports said it was most no ticed in apartment blocks of south ern Andalusia and southeast Murcia.' Morocco’s deadliest earthquake was in 1960, when 12,000 people were killed after a quake destroyed the southern city of Agadir. Warehouse Workers Packers $10.50/hr $9.00/hr We have many shifts available to fit your life: A1: Sat, Sun, Mon 6am-6pm A2: Sat, Sun, Mon 6pm-6am B2: Tue-Fri 4pm-2am APPLY IN PERSON MON-FRI 8:30 A.M.-4:30 P.M. (at the Camben One Stop located at \ 205 E. Dekalb Street in Camden. / ; Call 803-432-5153 for directions. * Employee discount at all Target locations * Earn an additionsl $.50-$.70 per hour when working second shift or weekend shift schedule | now hiring ©TARGET SOUTH CAROLINA NURSING OPPORTUNITIES NEW GRAD RN INTERNSHIP & SUMMER NURSE EXTERNSHIP I Join us at Palmetto Health — South Carolina’s leader! Our unique programs combine meaningful v personal and professional experiences. Our hospitals — Palmetto Health Richland and Palmetto Health Baptist in Columbia, S.C. and Palmetto Health Baptist Easley in Easley, S.C. — take pride in their steadfast commitment to excellence, a wonderfully diverse staff, advanced ■ technology, and the position of respect they have earned in the communities they serve. Both Columbia and Easley offer a variety of outstanding educational and cultural opportunities and easy access to mountains and | beaches. It’s a great place to call home! EOE Call 803-434-6970 or 1-800-321-5552 for an application OR apply online at palmettohealth.com . T ™ PALMETTO ¥ HEALTH . ..- ■ ...... , _ ___- _ . . . ■ ■ — - PkT" ~ I