Almost 96 hours after, the death toll in last week’s 6.8 magnitude powerful earthquake that struck Morocco is nearing 3,000 as rescuers move closer to the hardest-hit areas.

On Tuesday, the Moroccan Interior Minister said at least 2,901 have been killed as a result of the quake, which was the strongest since 123 years ago. Also, an estimated 5,530 others were injured.

Authorities have only now moved closer to the most affected villages in the epicentre of the High Atlas Mountains, as rocks and debris on the roads leading to those areas had hindered heavy lifting equipment from moving in.

However, some villagers are faulting Moroccan authorities for only focusing on bigger communities in the search and rescue operation while remote and most affected villages are being ignored.

“The authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages that are worst affected,” Hamid Ait Bouyali, 40, told Al Jazeera. “There are some villages that still have the dead buried under the rubble.”

Videos on Tuesday showed helicopters lifting aid and dropping them from air to the villages with authorities unable to ascertain the situation in those areas but hopes of finding survivors are fading.

Meanwhile, search and Rescue teams from Britain, Spain and Qatar assist the Moroccan military, as they continue to scale through rubble – international aid groups warn that Morocco faces a huge challenge in rebuilding destroyed villages.