Libya, Morocco get aid, rescuers

Foreign military planes and ships flew emergency supplies to eastern Libya's disaster zone as rescuers in quake-hit Morocco struggle to deliver food and tents to survivors and find missing ones under the rubble of a destroyed mountain village on Thursday.

The two North African countries are reeling from contrasting disasters with the death toll from Libya's dam breaks at nearly 4,000 people and almost 3,000 fatalities in Morocco.

The United Nations has pledged $10 million to support Libya's survivors, including at least 30,000 people it said had been left homeless in Derna.
Britain is sending aid worth a million pounds, including shelter, health care and sanitation.

Egyptians will help set up shelter camps. France was sending around 40 rescuers and tons of health supplies along with a field hospital.
Ships from Turkey and Italy are bringing medical supplies and field hospitals.

The United Arab Emirates sent two planes carrying 150 tons of aid. Another 40 tons of supplies took off Wednesday on a Kuwaiti flight.

Palestinian media reported a rescue mission had left from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and Jordan sent a military plane loaded with food parcels, tents, blankets and mattresses.

Tens of thousands of people in Derna have also been displaced after the huge flash flood slammed on Sunday. Two upstream dams burst when torrential rains brought by storm "Daniel" battered the region.

The wall of water ripped away buildings, vehicles and the people inside them. Many were swept out into the sea, with bodies later washing up on beaches littered with debris and car wrecks.

Foreign rescuers

In Morocco, Qatari firefighters are working to find survivors in many destroyed villages in the High Atlas mountains, where homes made from adobe crumbled easily during the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck late Friday.

Helicopters are being used to evacuate the injured from remote places or those that cannot be reached by road, with media reports saying at least three people were airlifted to Marrakesh on Wednesday.

Many Moroccan citizens have rushed to help quake victims with food, water, blankets and other aid or by donating blood to help treat the injured, an effort joined by the national football team.

Morocco has allowed rescue teams to come to its aid from Spain, Britain, Qatar and the UAE but so far declined offers from several other nations, including the United States, France and some Middle Eastern countries.

The US on Wednesday offered $1 million in support of groups on the ground and said it had deployed a small team to Morocco to help assess the situation.

As of late Wednesday, there were at least 2,946 dead and 5,674 injured. The toll is unlikely to be the final one.