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Rescuers are racing against time to find survivors in the rubble more than 48 hours after Morocco's deadliest earthquake in over six decades, with nearly 2500 killed in a disaster that devastated villages in the High Atlas Mountains.

Search teams from Spain, Britain and Qatar were joining efforts to find survivors of the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck late on Friday night, 72 km southwest of Marrakech.

Many survivors spent a third night outside, their homes destroyed or rendered unsafe. The death toll has climbed to 2497 with 2476 people injured, the state news agency reported on Monday.

In Imgdal, a village about 75 km south of Marrakech, women and children huddled early on Monday morning under makeshift tents set up along the road and next to damaged buildings. Some gathered around an open fire. Further south, a car stood crushed by boulders that had fallen from the cliff.

In the village of Tafeghaghte, Hamid ben Henna described how his eight-year-old son died under wreckage after he had gone to fetch a knife from the kitchen to cut a melon as the family were having their evening meal. The rest of the family survived.

With much of the quake zone in hard-to-reach areas, the full impact has yet to emerge. The authorities have not issued any estimates for the number of people still missing.

Roads blocked or obstructed by dislodged rocks have made it harder to access the hardest hit locations.

People are salvaging possessions from the ruins of their homes, some describing desperate scenes as they dug with their bare hands to find relatives.

Many structures crumbled easily, including ubiquitous, traditional mud brick, stone and rough wood houses, one of the picturesque features that have made the High Atlas a magnet for tourists for generations.

"It's difficult to pull people out alive because most of the walls and ceilings turned to earthen rubble when they fell, burying whoever was inside without leaving air space," said a military worker, asking not to be named because of army rules.

The harm done to Morocco's cultural heritage has been emerging gradually. Buildings in Marrakech old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were damaged. The quake also reportedly did major damage to the historically significant 12th century Tinmel Mosque in a remote mountain area closer to the epicentre.

It was the North African country's deadliest earthquake since 1960, when a tremor was estimated to have killed at least 12,000 people, and the most powerful since at least 1900, according to the US Geological Survey.

Survivors struggling to find shelter and supplies have voiced criticism of what they have described as an initially slow government response.

Morocco has deployed the army and has said it is reinforcing search-and-rescue teams, providing drinking water and distributing food, tents and blankets.

Neither King Mohammed VI nor Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch have addressed the nation since the disaster.

In a televised statement on Sunday, government spokesperson Mustapha Baytas said every effort was being made on the ground.

He added that King Mohammed had instructed the prime minister to meet on Monday with a ministerial committee that is developing emergency plans, including for home reconstruction.

Morocco had accepted offers of aid from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Both France and Germany played down the significance of Morocco not immediately taking them up on their offers of aid.

The European Union said it was releasing an initial one million euros ($A1.7 million) to non-governmental aid organisations already in Morocco, and was in contact with the Moroccan authorities to offer full EU civil protection assistance, should it require it.

© RAW 2023

Australians in regional, rural and remote areas deserve a boost in housing funding, parliament has been told.

Independent MP Helen Haines, who represents the Victorian seat of Indi, on Monday introduced a bill aimed at "unlocking" social and affordable housing in rural and regional areas.

The Unlocking Regional Housing bill would amend the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act to ensure at least 30 per cent of funding goes to regional, rural and remote areas.

Ms Haines said the fund did not have any guaranteed funding for these areas.

"With almost 30 per cent of the population living outside major cities, regional Australians deserve their fair share of housing funding," she told parliament on Monday.

"I acknowledge the government has made multiple funding announcements for housing supply in recent months, but not one of these is dedicated to regional rural and remote Australia.

"There is a blind spot that I am seeking to fix. We need action now."

Regional Australia Institute CEO Liz Ritchie has welcomed the fund, saying it's critical that "regional Australia's bespoke housing needs are recognised and fixed".

"Unlike metropolitan LGAs, land availability for regional councils is often not the problem, it's the cost of completing the necessary headworks such as sewerage, water, electricity, transportation, and roads," she said in a statement.

The proposed changes would improve funding for infrastructure like drainage and plumbing, to enable more development of new housing in regional Australia.

Ms Haines said she tried to amend the government's embattled Housing Australia Future Fund in a similar way but Labor "wouldn't have a bar of it".

The $10 billion investment is one of the signature pieces of legislation for the Labor government, but it has been caught in an impasse after the Greens refused to pass the bill unless it includes rental reforms.

Ms Haines said those in the regions living with housing stress could not wait for the government to resolve the stalemate, which led her to introduce her own legislation.

The $1 billion National Housing Infrastructure Facility was established in 2018 to distribute loans, grants and equity for new housing infrastructure and upgrades to existing homes.

However, most of its funding has been directed to urban areas which has prompted independent MP Andrew Gee to back Ms Haines' bill.

"The further you live away from the city, the more likely you are to miss out on the essentials and that includes housing," the Calare MP said.

"With a rising population comes rising pressure on housing, health care and essentials. Something must be done."

Nationals leader David Littleproud called the housing crisis "an abject failure of state and local governments", but believed large regional centres were less affected than other parts of the country.

"There's still competitive tension for private capital in much of these larger regional centres, but rural and remote is where government should interfere and help," he told reporters.

© AAP 2023

Thousands more social and affordable homes will be built after the Labor government struck a deal with the Greens to pass the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund.

The bill, which was held up by the Greens as lacking ambition and action on rental caps, is expected to pass parliament later this week.

As part of the new deal, the government agreed to invest an extra $1 billion in the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF).

Housing Minister Julie Collins said turning around challenges in the sector required long-term reform.

"It has always been for people - people who are waiting for social and affordable homes across this country," she told parliament on Monday.

The earnings from the fund will generate 30,000 social and affordable rental homes over five years.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the $1 billion in extra spending for the NHIF came on top of $2 billion previously promised by the government to pass the bill.

"That is $3 billion for public and community housing that the government initially said they could not find," Mr Bandt said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said building more homes and increasing the supply of affordable housing would put downward pressure on inflation.

"This is another way we are addressing the serious cost of living pressures the people are facing," he said.

The Greens say they will not give up their fight for rent caps and a national rent freeze.

"There is legislation still to come during the course of this parliament," Mr Bandt said.

"The Greens are in the balance of power and ... we've just learnt from the course of this year, a strong community campaign where renters find their voice gets results."

Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn thanked the Greens and senators Jacqui Lambie, Tammy Tyrrell and David Pocock for guaranteeing the passage of the bill.

"Passing this legislation is imperative to delivering the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new, well-located homes in the next five years," she said.

Earnings from the fund will go to crisis housing for women and children leaving domestic violence, improving housing in indigenous communities, specialist services for veterans and frontline worker accommodation.

Earlier on Monday, independent MP Helen Haines introduced a bill aimed at "unlocking" social and affordable housing in rural and regional areas.

The Unlocking Regional Housing bill would amend the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act to ensure at least 30 per cent of funding goes to regional, rural and remote areas.

Ms Haines said the fund did not have any guaranteed funding for these areas.

"With almost 30 per cent of the population living outside major cities, regional Australians deserve their fair share of housing funding," she told parliament on Monday.

"I acknowledge the government has made multiple funding announcements for housing supply in recent months, but not one of these is dedicated to regional rural and remote Australia.

"There is a blind spot that I am seeking to fix. We need action now."

© AAP 2023