Thousands of shocked and grieving residents spent the night in the open after the earthquake struck early Tuesday, reducing several mountain villages around the Mediterranean port of Al Hoceima to rubble.

Morocco's official MAP news agency put the latest toll at 564 dead and hundreds more injured from the quake, which was measured at 6.3 on the Richter scale by French seismologists and was felt as far away as southern Spain.

Hospitals in the region were struggling to cope with the flood of casualties while search and rescue teams discovered more victims as they reached many small villages far up in the mountains and one official said hopes were fading of finding more people alive.

"This is a terrible catastrophe. I can't use words to describe it. We have no house -- and there is no money for another one," said 23-year-old Najia from the village of Imzouren whose father Mohamed Boutasrontu was feared dead.

King Mohammed was to visit the area "to be close to his subjects and to follow the rescue operations," MAP said.

Two sizeable aftershocks early Wednesday heaped further misery on the region, where a smaller 1994 temblor killed just a handful of people.

International aid began reaching the stricken region as hundreds of Moroccan soldiers dug through the rubble of flattened mud homes and began erecting temporary accommodation for survivors.

Armed forces joined the royal gendarmerie, or paramilitary police, and local rescue services in the search, MAP said, adding that helicopters were also flying in large supplies of search and rescue equipment.

"It's a nationwide effort," one senior police official told AFP.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for 2.8 million Swiss francs (2.3 million dollars) to provide tents, blankets, mattresses, cooking facilities and food.

The United Nations in Geneva also announced it had sent a disaster and coordination assessment team and was organising a shipment of relief supplies.

Aircraft arrived from Spain, France and Algeria with food, blankets and rescue equipment, and further flights were expected during the course of the day from Italy, Portugal, Belgium and other countries.

The port of Al Hoceima came slowly back to life, but many shops remained closed as a sign of mourning, and the schools were also shut.

Local civic organizations, including the Moroccan Human Rights Association complained about what they called the slowness and inadequacy of aid efforts, but their concerns were rejected by Interior Minister Mostafa Sahel.

In Imzouren, some 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Al Hoceima, an official said the quake had destroyed 40 houses as their residents slept. Cries of "Allah Akbar" (God is Greatest) filled the air with each discovery of a victim buried beneath the debris.

Arguments raged as to whether the lessons of previous quakes in the region had been learned, with some residents blaming the poor construction of houses which came crashing down, as happened with the last major temblor 10 years ago.

"Old country houses made of clay cannot stand up to the shock, but neither can many recent buildings because they are not up to standards," said Omar Mussa Abdullah, a member of a regional association for economic development.

But the debate was a futile one for the owners of properties which bore the full brunt of the quake.

"It's God's will," Fatima, a veiled young girl from the hardest-hit part of the town, told AFP, while Ahmed Khattabi expressed anger as he waited for help to arrive.

"Two members of my family are still buried under the debris," he said.

The first burials of victims began Tuesday afternoon near Al Hoceima.

Local officials said hundreds of injured were coming to the port of 100,000 residents, which seemed to have escaped major damage.

Trucks, tents, cars and open spaces were converted into emergency camping spots, as close to half of the city's population opted to sleep outdoors for fear of another quake, local human rights official Omar Lamallam told AFP.

One hospital there was overflowing and the injured were evacuated to a local army barracks and to a charity home.

Morocco's worst earthquake in modern times occurred in February 1960. At least 12,000 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale destroyed the port city of Agadir on the Atlantic coast.

TERRA.WIRE