Rescue teams backed by volunteers faced an enormous task amid the devastation wrought by Wednesday’s quake that measured 6.8 on the Richter Scale.

People tried to free their loved ones using their bare hands against overwhelming odds. But hopes were fading fast that there were many survivors beneath the mountains of twisted debris which are all that remains of dozens of apartment blocks, flattened by the worst quake to hit Algeria in more than two decades.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia put the toll yesterday at 1,600 dead and more than 7,000 injured.

Officials have warned the death toll is likely to rise as the rescuers uncover more bodies from underneath tons of debris. Bodies wrapped in blankets and plastic bags piled up in morgues as weary volunteers, their faces caked with cement dust and sweat, climbed huge mounds of smashed concrete to look for survivors.

Police erected roadblocks and stepped up patrols to prevent looting after thousands of people fled their homes, fearful of further quakes. Many slept overnight in the streets and in public parks, and light aftershocks jolted the region yesterday. Entire families were among the dead. Buildings leaned at crazy angles. Domes toppled off mosques. The injured jammed into hospitals.

French rescue teams, who arrived in the country on Thursday, have pulled five people, including two little girls, from the rubble. They have also found 14 bodies.

The 142-strong civil defense team will “stay as long as it takes to save the people on the ground,” said Eric Soupra, from the French Interior Ministry.

The initial shock and trauma were beginning to give way to anger, with victims turning on real-estate developers, accusing them of being corrupt and using shoddy construction methods. “Why is it that the new buildings have collapsed and the old ones are still standing,” asked one man, surveying a pile of flattened buildings east of Algiers, were many were believed to be entombed.

Entire areas of ramshackle housing crumbled like houses of cards when the quake which struck just as families were gathering at home for dinner, or to watch a UEFA football match on the television.

The worst-affected towns were Boumerdes, Reghaia and Rouiba on the eastern outskirts of Algiers.

Yesterday was the start of three days of official mourning as international aid poured into the country to help with the rescue effort. Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, South Korea, Russia and Turkey as well as the United Nations have all pledged to help a huge effort by the Algerians to help the people.