For the ninth day in a row, Morocco's search and rescue teams maintained their efforts to find survivors from the deadly 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit a remote region of the High Atlas mountains in the North African country last week.

The Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu cited its reporter as saying that rescue operations in the affected regions were met with some challenging terrain due to the presence of steep mountains.

A source told Morocco's Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) that residents whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake were sheltered in tents as a precaution against poor weather.

Companies and governmental institutions continued to contribute to special funds set up by the Moroccan government to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake.

Last Sunday, the government established special bank accounts to accept public donations for earthquake relief.

In solidarity with the earthquake victims, the Moroccan government announced that its ministers would each give one month's salary.

Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said on Friday that "state agents and employees of public companies and institutions may, in an optional and voluntary capacity, contribute one day’s wages for each month over a period of three months."

On September 8, a magnitude 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Morocco, claiming the lives of at least 2,900 people and injuring 6,125. At least 50,000 houses were fully or partially destroyed as a result.

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According to Morocco's National Geophysical Institute, the quake was the strongest to strike the North African country in a century.

The death toll makes the quake the country's deadliest since 1960, and rescuers and experts pointed out that the immense destruction and loss of life was worsened by the region's mud, brick, and stone-built houses, Reuters indicated.

"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," the news agency quoted a military rescue worker as saying at an army center south of the city of Marrakesh not far from the earthquake's epicenter.

These ancient building techniques are frequently commended for their capacity to help manage heat in the region's hot weather conditions. Local architects chose mud brick-based architecture over concrete, according to a National Geographic report, since they "create cooler structures than concrete, are cheaper, and require less energy to produce."

In the same context, an article published in The New York Times, dubbed "Withstanding the Passage of Time, but Not the Shaking of the Earth," highlighted that following the earthquake, "Morocco also suffered a very different kind of loss with the damage or destruction of some of its rich heritage — venerated mosques, exquisitely tiled palaces in Marrakesh and ancient hilltop citadels built by the indigenous Amazighs, or Berbers, who long dominated the mountains where the quake struck hardest."

Social media users circulated videos of the famed minaret of the 12th-century Koutoubia Mosque -- a tourist attraction that looms over Marrakesh's oldest quarter -- listing back and forth during the earthquake, spewing puffs of dust, the report noted.

However, the minaret escaped the fate of the minaret of Kharbouch Mosque -- another major tourist attraction -- which crashed, wounding numerous people, as per The New York Times report.

The article added that several museums in Marrakesh, including the 16th-century El Badi Palace and the late 19th-century El Bahia Palace, also closed their doors to guests, and experts have confirmed that the museums suffer from serious conditions.

Read more: Morocco to give aid to those affected by earthquake, farmers suffering