The search and rescue missions in Morocco are a "race against time", according to the Chief of Staff at the Red Cross.

Christopher Rassi was speaking to Newstalk Breakfast from Rabat, Morrocco, as local authorities and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies work to recover people from the wreckage following a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the western area of the country.

Over 2,100 people are dead and at least 1,800 people have also been injured as the full scope of the earthquake is starting to be understood, with several regions of the country affected. 

Mr Rassi said the situation remains "very, very difficult" for aid workers who are attempting to retrieve people from the epicentre in a mountainous region.

"The devastation was huge and the situation remains very, very difficult and it's a race against time and that will continue for the next hours," he said.

A fireman rests outside a collapsed house where they were searching for bodies under the rubble in the city of Amizmiz, Morocco following the earthquake.(Photo by Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images/Sipa USA) Credit: Sipa USA/Alamy Live News

Man is seen climbing back to his destroyed house in Morocco (Credit Image: © Ashley Chan/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire)

Mr Rassi said authorities are providing a wide range of assistance to those affected – including first aid, psychosocial support, transport to hospitals, evacuation and dignified burials for those who have lost their lives.

"In the medium and longer term, we're also focusing and mapping the other needs that are necessary and providing safe water, sanitation, and warmth for those that are in the mountains," he said.

"We need to make sure that we stop other breaks from forming – the last thing anyone needs right now is a disaster within a disaster.

"As this continues and as the race against time continues for search and rescue, we have to look at this as a marathon, not a sprint."

A man walking among debris from destroyed houses in the aftermath of the earthquake. (Photo by Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/Sipa USA) Credit: Sipa USA/Alamy Live News

Mr Rassi said many people are still trapped under the rubble.

"Hopefully, many more will be found and many more will be rescued and cared for, but there could be more confirmed fatalities as well," he said. "We've seen – in working after very difficult earthquakes all over the world – that that is a reality.

"The assistance that's needed will continue now for the next days, weeks and months."

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