WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, the latest from Morocco as the death toll from the devastating earthquake passes 2,100.

MAN (through translator): We used all our effort to help and rescue people here.

We did what we could, but for many other people we could not help them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Then as world leaders depart India, we look at consensus found and compromises made at this weekend's G20 Summit.

And why millions of students are still chronically absent from school and what can be done to get them back into the classroom.

(BREAK) 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.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This weekend's G20 Summit in New Delhi, India concluded with a new member the African Union, an ambitious new plan to create a railway from Europe through the Middle East to India, and an acknowledgement of the atrocities in Ukraine, but no mention of the aggressor.

Russia and China signed off on this final agreement to come out of the summit, but Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were notably absent.

Earlier today, I spoke with special correspondent Pavni Mittal, who is in New Delhi, covering the G20.

So as I mentioned, there were some announcements about this summit.

But on some of the key issues leading into the summit, it seems that there was not nearly as much progress made.

PAVNI MITTAL: Because there was a lot of debate and discussion about what could actually be achieved at the G20 because he passed all those remember that these forums mostly to build consensus, but follow through has been weak.

So whether it is on issues like climate change, or debt structuring, there was hope that leaders would come together and agree on those.

But even though they have agreed on this, there's very little that countries can do to hold each other accountable.

Now, one of the biggest issues that have sort of dominated this forum has been the war in Ukraine.

You had Western countries, particularly the G7 nations led by the United States and had been pushing for stronger language on the war and against Russia.

But that was countered, of course, by Russia, supported very strongly by China.

And then you had sort of a third block led by India, which has tried to play neutral ground.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So how does President Biden's administration rationalize or justify this statement, which I think by all accounts was weaker than they wished had come out of the summit?

PAVNI MITTAL: Well, officially, the White House has said that this builds on what the U.S. and other G7 nations and basically most other Western nations have said about war, but a lot of times you know, these declarations and this communicate often mirrors the language preferred by the host nation.

And in that way, this is a reflection of what India stand (ph) has been that is the cultural piece, but also not directly criticize Russia.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister actually to do social media and said, quote, this has nothing to be proud of criticizing this joint declaration.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So on one of the more substantive announcements there was this rail and shipping corridor announced linking Europe, the Middle East and India.

Can you tell us a little bit more about that announcement?

PAVNI MITTAL: So for India, this was our chance to sort of advance issues facing the global south and infrastructure project and debt restructuring were very much top agenda.

Now this is being seen as a counter to China.

China's Belt and Road Initiative, which helped China expand its influence geopolitically and financially across the global south.

And what was interesting about this announcement, William, was the fact that President Biden was very much there during the announcement very much that supporting the countries because symbolically for the U.S., this was a chance to reestablish its relationship with Asia Pacific nations and to counter China.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were not present for this summit.

Do you have any sense of how their absence affected negotiations?

PAVNI MITTAL: This actually symbolically gave the U.S. a much bigger stage.

You know, President Biden was there, making sure that everybody noticed that the U.S. was there to meet with adversities and partners in short, the U.S. is commitment to the Asia Pacific region.

So in many ways, this was a bigger platform for the United States and sort of made sure that there was no sort of press around President Xi or President Putin, who by the way, would have demanded a lot of interest had there been present.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this was obviously a means to showcase his leadership internationally, but also domestically.

How was his stewardship of the summit received?

PAVNI MITTAL: This was a chance for India to really capitalize on the exelente (ph) has had internationally becoming the most populous nation overtaking the U.K. to becoming the fifth largest economy landing on the moon.

But the way some of the sort of the glitz and the glamour and show around G20 and the presidency, that has been criticized and opposition parties have pointed out that the government has tried to conflate India success with Prime Minister Modi's success.

I mean, you look at the G20 logo, it's the lotus, that is the symbol of his political party.

You cannot walk 100 meters and jelly without seeing a G20 poster with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face on it.

And so people are saying this is like an ad campaign months ahead of the general election.

And then there's also criticism, William, about the security arrangements, you know, parts of New Delhi, particularly the main district in which the summit was held was sort of shut down.

So no traffic, no shops, no restaurants, but for millions of people in the city who only get to eat if they work that day.

They are daily wage earners.

So they are hawkers.

They drive people's cars.

They deliver food.

This was loss of livelihood.

WILLAM BRANGHAM: All right, special correspondent Pavni Mittal, thank you so much for being here.

PAVNI MITTAL: Thanks for having me.

WILLAM BRANGHAM: President Biden is now in Vietnam, where he celebrated closer ties with the communist country that was once a sworn enemy.

Vietnam elevated the United States to its highest diplomatic status equal to China and Russia, signaling its openness to the U.S. as an alternative.

Biden later told reporters his visit was quote, not about containing China.

Hurricane Lee is churning slowly through the Atlantic Ocean, and it still remains unclear whether it will affect any parts of the East Coast.

The storm was once a category five, and though it is weakened, Lee is expected to regain strength in the coming days.

For now the storm is staying north of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands.

In the student needs capital of Khartoum, a drone attack today killed at least 43 people and wounded 55 others according to a doctor's group.

It's the latest violence between military and paramilitary groups, led by two rival generals that have battled for control of the country since April.

And American teenage tennis phenom Coco Gauff made history with her U.S. Open victory last night.

Gauff rallied from behind to upset Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and claim her first Grand Slam title at only age 19.

Gauff is the first American teenager to win the U.S. Open since Serena Williams did it in 1999 at age 17.

Excellent company to have.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, why so many American children are still absent from school and activist targeting sporting events demanding action on climate change.

(BREAK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At the height of the pandemic, school closures and the shift to virtual learning disrupted so many students' lives.

While almost all districts have resumed in person school, not all students have returned to the classroom.

According to a Stanford University analysis, more than a quarter of students did not attend 10 percent of the 2021 to 2022 school year.

And last year, nearly 16 million students across the U.S. are chronically absent.

That is double the pre pandemic truancy rate.

Earlier today, Ali Rogin spoke with Hedy Chang, the founder and executive director of Attendance Works, an organization that's helping schools face this challenge.

ALI ROGIN: Hedy, over a decade ago, your organization began helping schools track and prevent chronic absenteeism.

When the pandemic hit, what were some of the issues that states ran across?

HEDY CHANG, Executive Director, Attendance Works: The pandemic created all sorts of challenges, you know, when schools first closed, and then we moved to virtual learning, the first challenge was noticing when kids were there, and when they weren't.

We didn't really have a mechanism for noticing and distance learning where their kids were showing up.

And that is problematic because if we don't notice that kids aren't showing up, we're not so good at reaching out in an early and prevention oriented way, so we can bring them back.

The pandemic really exacerbated the challenges that can make it hard for kids to show up to school.

We think about four kind of buckets of big reasons.

One is kids and families face barriers.

So, a key barrier can be chronic acute illness and lack of access to health care, unstable housing, lack of transportation, all of those things got much more challenging during the panic.

And then even with our return back to school.

ALI ROGIN: What are the effects of long term, sustained absenteeism from school?

HEDY CHANG: There's a whole wealth of data now that shows if kids are missing too much, or starting as early as kindergarten and pre K. They're off track for reading by the end of third grade.

They can be off track for achievement in middle school more likely to be suspended and retained, and less likely to graduate from high school.

There's even research that shows that if kids don't show up regularly, they're less likely to continue in post-secondary and be successful in college.

So, there's a whole range of impacts but we also see that it's not just the academic impacts.

You know, showing up to school is also about having that regular routine.

That's so important for recovering from chaotic transitions.

It's also important for engagement, because when you show up to school, you get to connect to kids get to get back to family, and showing up to school is also really important for having access to resources that support your well-being.

ALI ROGI: What are some of the solutions that you've seen states implement to reduce chronic absenteeism?

HEDY CHANG: One of the states that we've seen do such an amazing job has been the state of Connecticut.

Well, before they the pandemic, they started collecting and producing data on chronic absence and making it publicly available.

And during the pandemic they started collecting that data every single month and making it available.

So everyone could see which schools which districts, which races had challenges with chronic absence, so we could take action.

So what they did was they added staff, they created more physicians to do home visits, multiple home visits so that they could find the kids who are chronically absent.

And this is a district which was experiencing the greatest challenges and reach out to kids and families starting well before the beginning of school.

Those home visitors were able to increase attendance by fifth teen percentage points for the kids who got home visits versus the kids who did not.

ALI ROGIN: Can these strategies be replicated around the country?

HEDY CHANG: Absolutely.

You know, what it means is that even just at a district level districts need to be able to look at their data understand, which schools which populations of students know, what it means is that even just at a district level, districts need to be able to look at their data, understand which schools which populations of students are struggling the most.

And then find out how they can partner with those kids and families to both understand the challenges, but engage them in solutions.

So for example, one solution that works to improve attendance is mentoring, whether it's an adult or it can even be another student who connects to a student every single day, and just notices that they're there and then helps them find resources that can help them if they're experiencing challenges.

ALI ROGIN: And Hedy, the U.S. Department of Education encouraged states to use COVID funds to reduce chronic absence now that those funds are running out what's left for states to do?

CHEDY CHANG: Well, first of all, I think we have to look at what are there different issues that are still affecting attendance.

And I will say one huge issue right now is still lots of concerns around health issues.

One of the things that states use their COVID relief dollars for was for school nurses.

But there's still such a need for school nurses because school nurses can help.

Families access supports, help schools adopt practices, like making sure kids are all washing their hands engaging in good hygiene, as well as getting messages about when to keep their kids home and when to send their kids to school.

But school nurses can be funded by multiple sources, right?

So as COVID Relief dollars run out, we should be looking at how do we use Medicaid?

How do we partner with our health organizations, we have to just be much more strategic about the use of our resources and using multiple funding sources just to sustain the kinds of interventions that we know work.

ALI ROGIN: Hedy Chang, founder and executive director of Attendance Works.

Thank you so much for joining us.

HEDY CHANG: Thank you, Ali.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Around the world climate change, protests have disrupted everything from the daily commute to a night at the museum.

And as we saw last week at the U.S. Open, they are now spreading to sporting events.

Ali Rogin is back with this report.

ALI ROGIN: A crucial match at this year's U.S. Open between two rising tennis stars delayed for nearly an hour by protesters, one of them even glued his feet to the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the focus of their demonstration bringing an end to fossil fuels.

More and more climate change activists are using high profile sports events as megaphones to spread their message to wider audiences.

Disrupting NBA games, soccer matches, even play on Wimbledon storied grass courts.

Matt Woosnam writes for The Athletic.

MATT WOOSNAM, Staff Writer, The Athletic: The U.N. have warned that the climate crisis is out of control.

I think that sort of cause people to join these groups and to make their voices heard in a different way.

ALI ROGIN: A skydiver dropping in on the European soccer championships, protesters releasing orange dust during a major English Rugby tournament, and arrests at golf British Open and England's Grand National steeplechase all play to captive audiences.

MATT WOOSNAM: Millions of people watch this so there's already a platform there for them to be able to get their message out.

ALI ROGIN: For some of the protests seem counterproductive.

After protesters invaded the track during the opening lap of last year's British Grand Prix Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton said he was all for peaceful protest, but this one endangered lives.

And after protesters tossed oversized tennis balls onto the court during a match earlier this summer, American tennis player Taylor Fritz said the disruption ruin the experience for spectators.

He joked that it actually made him want to take more flights on jets which create more carbon emissions than any other form of transportation.

MATT WOOSNAM: There are people in the climate activism movement who do believe that actually what these people are doing is actually counterproductive.

And they're not saying don't protest, but they're saying don't do it in the way that these activists are doing.

ALI ROGIN: Sports leagues and organizations are trying to discourage these demonstrations, working with authorities to develop protocols for dealing with them, and telling both players and fans not to take matters into their own hands and let security deal with it.

But for now, the protesters believe the disruptions are achieving their goals.

Interruptions that are meant to spur dialogue on climate change, giving new meaning to the phrase leaving it all out on the field.

For PBS News Weekend, I'm Ali Rogin.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And another sports update before we go, three weeks after tarnishing his country's World Cup win, the head of Spain Soccer Federation Luis Rubiales announced late today that he will resign.

Rubiales was already suspended by FIFA for kissing a female player on the lips without her consent during the World Cup trophy presentation.

He has been accused of sexual assault and coercion.

And that is our program for tonight.

I'm William Branham.

For all of my colleagues here, thank you so much for joining us.

We'll see you tomorrow.