WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Good evening, I'm William Brangham.

John Yang is away.

After suffering its worst earthquake in over a century, Morocco has begun three days of national mourning.

At least 2,100 people are dead, another 2, 400 are injured.

Many of those critically, and many more remain unaccounted for.

A 3.9 magnitude aftershock rattled the region today, as villages were burying those who had died.

Meanwhile, rescuers comb through rubble in a desperate search for any remaining survivors.

The U.N. estimates 300,000 people are affected by Friday night's quake, Moroccans today pleaded for help.

MAN (through translator): No bread, no electricity and water.

People are suffering and aid is late.

Some are stuck on the roads, some lack food and shelter.

We are 12 or 13 at a tent, including kids and parents.

The situation is dire.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But the Moroccan government has been slow to approve outside aid even as a number of nations have offered it.

Joining us now from Marrakesh, a special correspondent Alex Cadier.

Alex, thank you so much for being here.

Could you just give us a sense of the latest of what you have been seeing?

ALEX CADIER: Well, the latest from Marrakech and you can see behind me I'm at a blood donation center at the Mohammed six hospital.

It's one of the biggest hospitals in Marrakesh.

I've been speaking to the officials here they say they've had to turn people away for nearly 48 hours now.

People have been queuing around the block, around 1,000 feet down the road to donate their blood, tourists and Marrakesh locals alike.

And they have been waiting some arriving in the morning and only donating blood in the evening.

And now this particular blood donation point is full of blood and resources for those people most in need.

So that's the situation in Marrakesh.

Another point that we've observed today is that people have started to return to their homes.

Last night they were lining the streets, at sleeping on the floor, sleeping in the streets, in the parks wherever they could, because they didn't feel safe in their structures.

Now they've started to head home.

So certainly some solidarity on show and some reassured locals as well here in Marrakesh.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We understand that many of those homes that they are now returning to have been made out of mud bricks, which I know are particularly vulnerable to tremors like this.

What are the biggest challenges that the search and rescue teams have still trying to find people who might be alive?

ALEX CADIER: accessing them will be the biggest challenge actually is that's what we hear from guides from the local area that I've been speaking to.

They say look, it's not about clearing the roads.

Some of the visited these villages don't have roads that go to them.

That will be the main challenge, that will be very difficult to get through.

They're usually accessed on horseback or with donkeys or even by foot.

Now how do you get a digger up a very thin trail that will be the kind of problem that the Moroccan authorities are facing accessing these remote villages.

Now we know from our sources on the ground that some helicopters have arrived in some of those villages, but it's a different situation in different places.

They're all very remote.

They're about an hour and a half, two hours drive south of Marrakesh.

And these are very basic villages that have been in those mountains for years, but as you say, built from materials that are not made to withstand any level of earthquakes, let alone something as serious as this one.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Alex, I mean, I can't even imagine the national trauma that the Moroccans are going through Have you had the opportunity to speak to people and generally speaking, how are they faring?

ALEX CADIER: There's a lot of grief.

There's a lot of disbelief.

And there's also some reluctant acceptance that we hear from the locals.

I was speaking to one man today and he said, well, actually, my Muslim faith tells me that when nature does something like this to us, it's God's plan.

And that is part of the way that a lot of the people we speak to have been coping with this tragedy is that they have a deep belief that it is God's plan.

And that's why they are able to go through such a traumatic time, but there is absolutely an outpouring of grief, sadness, frustration, as well with the Moroccan government for its response that's been expressed by a few people that we speak to, but also some positives.

As I said, this blood donation center was I had people queuing around the block to donate their blood.

We've also seen lots of SUVs, pulling up some of the wealthier families in Marrakesh or driving their SUVs full of food and other things, water and sanitary products for the families of the victims who are in Marrakech, now with nowhere to stay, so a lot of solidarity but still a very serious outpouring of grief.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As we reported, the Moroccan government is apparently not asked for a good deal of foreign aid that has been offered by many nations, including the United States.

Has the government explain why it does not seem to be welcoming all of this aid as it's been offered?

ALEX CADIER: No, in a word, they haven't explained why some offers have been accepted.

Spain said that they received an official request from the Moroccan government to help but just further north France has not received that request, even though they were ready, willing and able to help.

That's what's caused quite a lot of frustration, a lot of criticism that we're hearing here in Marrakesh of the government saying, well, we don't know why.

And I've asked a number of people here sometimes it's quite some say, they're just a bit disorganized and they're not ready.

And there's no clear understanding yet of why this is happening.

But that international help is there is ready.

We've heard from India or Israel or even neighboring Algeria, who had broken diplomatic ties two years ago.

Well, they've opened their airspace for humanitarian flights and offered their own resources to help as well whether or not the Moroccan government will take up those offers.

We'll have to see in the next few hours and days.

WILLIANG BRANGHAM: All right, special correspondent Alex Cadier, thank you so much for being here.

ALEX CADIER: Thank you.