A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing from their beds into the darkened streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such force.

A tent typically used for celebrations was being erected for shelter in the square of the impoverished mountain community of Moulay Brahim, where homes made of clay and brick were largely left uninhabitable.

“The problem is that where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough to cope with strong ground shaking, so many collapse, resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London.

In a sign of the huge scale of the disaster, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the armed forces to mobilize air and land assets, specialized search and rescue teams and a surgical field hospital, according to a statement from the military.

Abderrahim Ait Daoud, head of the town of Talat N’Yaaqoub, told Moroccan news site 2M that authorities were working to clear roads in Al Haouz Province to allow passage for ambulances and aid to populations affected, but said large distances between mountain villages meant it would take time to learn the extent of the damage.

On the steep, winding switchbacks from Marrakech to Al Haouz, ambulances with sirens blaring and honking cars veered around piles of Mars-like red rock that had tumbled from the mountainside and blocked the road.

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