In a remote Moroccan village near the epicentre of last week’s earthquake, newly orphaned children pick through the ruins of their former homes.

Some of them are not wearing any shoes as they step over mounds of stone, bricks and concrete.

Their parents were killed in the village of Tikekht, where more than a quarter of the village’s population perished. 

Every single home there was destroyed when the magnitude-6.8 quake struck.

Six-year-old Zacharia, who lives in the village, says he managed to escape his house as it crumbled, but his mother didn’t.

His father was already dead.

Zacharia, like other orphans, has been unofficially taken in by survivors.

But no-one knows what the future holds for these children.

Authorities and humanitarian aid are yet to arrive in Tikekht.

The people left here have no running water, no electricity and no sanitation.

While offers of help have come from dozens of countries, more than four days after the quake struck, Morocco is yet to accept many of them.

Spain, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are sending various forms of assistance, but pledges from Italy, Belgium, France and Germany have not yet been given the green light.

The 70 people who died in Tikekht have been buried together in mass graves dug in a vacant patch of land.

Idriss Ait Bella’s mother and 12-year-old sister Nadia were among those laid to rest there.

He was digging for hours using his bare hands to reach their bodies underneath a giant boulder that crushed their house.

His arms are covered in cuts and bruises as he points to where he found them.

“They were watching TV here and they slept here, and this rock killed them,” Idriss says.

“When I found them under the ground, my mum was wrapped around my sister, trying to save her. 

“I have been crying until I felt like I couldn’t cry anymore.”

Idriss was working in the city of Marrakech when he felt the earthquake hit and rushed back into the High Atlas Mountains to find his home town flattened.

He weeps as he describes how his sister was his best friend, remembering the last time he saw her when they shared a secret handshake. 

“My sister wasn’t just my sister, she was my everything,” he says. 

“I can’t believe it right now. I’ve lost everything.

“How can I get started again? I’m still alive but I feel dead.”

‘We need someone to help us’

The official number of casualties from Friday’s quake is now over 2,900, while thousands more remain missing or injured.

In small villages like Tikekht, where a significant portion of the population has been killed, the sense of loss is pronounced.

The grief is overwhelming and people wander in a daze, picking through the ruins to salvage anything of their previous lives.

Many also sit with their head in their hands, struggling to comprehend the devastation.

But the pain is compounded by the stress of a perilous new reality — and, so far, it’s unclear when authorities will arrive.

Khadidja Eiese breaks down while pleading for help.

She was pulled from the rubble but lost three members of her family.

“We need someone to help us, anyone,” she says.

“We need somewhere to go. We are just sleeping in the street.”

Khadidja says she has no idea how she will survive.

“Our jobs here are farmers. We have no money, nowhere to go,” she says.

“Even if we wanted to start again, we can’t because we have no work now.”

Anger is building over about the lack of on-the-ground help in the disaster zone.

In another mountain village, a group of more than 50 men marched down the main street on Monday, waving the Moroccan flag and shouting at authorities.

They strode towards a satellite army camp to confront officials about the government’s crisis response.

Scuffles broke out between the two groups and army officers linked arms, forming a human barricade, blocking the villagers from getting inside the compound.

One man starts crying after his request for a tent is rejected.

“They said, ‘No, we’re not giving them to anyone,'” he says.

“I have children, babies. And now we’re scared.

“The earthquake has happened and we just need somewhere to live.