people were killed and more than 300 others injured. they cite the interior ministry, the u.s. geological survey says the 6.8 magnitude quake was the strongest in the region in more than 120 years. rescues are under way in the country at this hour. the tremors brought down buildings throughout the region. officials say there is an urgent need for blood donations for the victims. and take a look at this. this is video that shows the moment that the quake shook a mosque in marrakech late friday night. it's incredible. and what appears to be dust rising off the building as people fled for safety on the streets. cnn's larry madowo joins me now live. sadly, larry, it seems this death toll has gone up. day has broken there. what more can you tell us about rescue efforts and what authorities are saying about where this earthquake struck. >> reporter: paula, the moroccan government says it has deployed all resources available to it to respond to this earthquake, the strongest that the country has seen since 1900. and the epicenter of the earthquake was in the high atlas mountains. this is a popular tourist destination of marrakech. the impact was felt a lot further than where this happened. the depth of this is relatively shallow, just about 11.5 miles under the earth's surface. but even a shallow earthquake like this can still do extensive damage. that's why you're seeing this number of 632 confirmed dead so far, more than 300 wounded. authorities fear that when the full account is done, those numbers could be a lot higher because as they now to begin to move in the regions in the mountainous areas, some of the roads are blocked. this happened about 11:00 p.m. local. some people could have been trapped in their homes or under these buildings that have collapsed. the worst damage has been in these mountainous regions which are very hard to reach. but they will be trying to sift through all that and get to them. i want to show you this incredible footage of the moment this earthquake hit. you see people scampering for safety and the debris starting to fall. this explains just the impact of this earthquake, not just in the epicenter but so much further away. that's why you saw so many people sleeping on the streets, afraid if they stayed in their homes, their homes might collapse on them. you see people being pulled away in all kinds of whatever they can really to get them to safety. so many people dead. some of this video shown on social media, harrowing video, bodies lying on the streets, just speaking to how bad this has been, especially happening at night when some people were probably asleep. i want you to listen to this one gentleman who was further away in casablanca. even there, a lot of fear. >> translator: the house rocked aggressively. everyone was scared, and i was shocked and didn't understand what was happening. i thought it was only my house that was moving because it's fragile and old. i heard people screaming. everyone went out of their houses. the street is full of people and women screaming. even now, people can't go back home because they're still afraid. >> reporter: it's been a harrowing night for so many people in morocco. the u.s. geological survey just updated its guidance. it expects there's a possibility up to 1,000 people could have died here. this is obviously consistent with what we're seeing so far by the number of the casualties and the wounds as they begin to do the rescue operations. those numbers could likely rise. >> a very tough day ahead as many here certainly gather to try and mount those rescue efforts. larry madowo for us, thanks for the update. we want to go now to cnn's benjamin brown. he is a cnn researcher and was there in marrakech when the earthquake struck. he joins us now by phone. benjamin, it must have been quite a terrifying night there. describe what you felt and what you saw during that earthquake. >> so i was on the rooftop of my hotel when the ground started shaking, and to be honest, it took a couple seconds to realize what was actually happening. when i did realize that it was an earthquake, i saw a cloud of dust basically covering the sky, rising up from the earth that had been shaken up by the tremor. and then together with other guests from the hotel, we decided our safest option would be to make our way to open ground farther away from high buildings. and initially i was quite surprised at how little panic there was in the streets. people were quite calm and organized, making their way through these narrow alleyways. but i think then at the moment when the dust had settled and when the initial shock and burst of adrenaline had passed, that's when i heard screams erupting. i think it's when people saw most likely the extent of the damage and injuries. and then standing in that open space next to roads, more and more injured people were arriving, some people being carried out of buildings on stretchers. i saw one person wrapped up in a carpet who had been brought out of the house. and several people with what appeared to be quite bad head injuries with a lot of blood. ambulances obviously coming to treat the injured. unfortunately, i did also see one incidence in which an ambulance had to turn away a woman. they were simply full. there were so many injured people in the back that they couldn't fit her in. and, yeah, that's basically how -- >> ben, just absolutely terrifying scenes. we have seen video where people were literally running for their lives as debris was falling. so obviously unfortunate that many people were injured or perhaps killed by that falling debris. i want to ask you what you've seen in the last few hours. have you felt any aftershocks and what's it been like? is there power? are people still panicking? are people still in the streets? have they tried to return to their homes? >> so i haven't felt any aftershocks. power is up and running in the part of marrakech i'm in. things are relatively calm. a rather unusual sight is people are still sleeping in the streets. definitely not as many as last night. many people decided to camp out in the streets on open areas and parking lots just to avoid having to go back into buildings for fear of aftershocks or simply because their homes had been destroyed. so that's obviously a rather unusual sight this morning, seeing people sleeping on the streets on makeshift beds, too scared to return home. and the other thing is people lining up for public buses with suitcases packed. many people trying to leave the city last night on motorbikes and cars, some even on horseback, just trying to make their way out of marrakech. there are far fewer people going to the buses but still people with suitcases trying to leave the city. >> yeah, people just trying to go to where they believe it will be safe, obviously assuming there will be aftershocks. the u.s. geological survey confirmed to us last hour there was at least one at 4.9, perhaps relatively mild compared to what they've just been through. obviously the risk of aftershocks are still there. what more are you learning about what people went through because in some of the video and some of the descriptions that we heard, this was violent shaking. i mean it really was something else. 6.8, and given where the earthquake struck, but people even in marrakech would have felt the swrviolence of this. >> yes, and i think there's two different types of effects i saw it had on people. the material ones. we've seen the images of buildings being torn down. but obviously one is the physical injuries. i saw people with bloody injuries. some of them through direct hits, for example, from glass shards that just burst. i saw people with cut legs that they had glass stuck into them. obviously others then falling trying to get out of the old city. but also another aspect of it is the psychological injury, the trauma. even this morning, still walking through the city, there's people in tears, people hugging each other. so that's definitely something that's still quite visible in the streets this morning. >> yeah. a real struggle there still as we await more word on what rescues might be ongoing in those mountainous regions where the epicenter was. benjamin brown, thank you for your reporting. i know you will stay on top of the story for us, and please stay safe. we appreciate it. now, we want to take you back to new delhi and the other big story we're following this hour, the annual g20 summit being hosted this year by india. in his opening remarks, prime minister narendra modi announced that the african union will become a permanent member of the g20. that marks a significant achievement for mr. modi, who has been pulling out all the stops for u.s. president joe biden and other world leaders. but two key players, as we've been reporting, are not there -- vladimir putin and xi jinping. that of course is significant for this summit. divisions over the war in ukraine have some observers wondering whether the leaders will even be able to issue a joint communique this year. cnn's kevin liptak joins me from new delhi. i know you are well versed in joe biden and the white house's priorities on this. at this hour, reuters is reporting from a source that they have reached some kind of consensus on language for that communique. the sticking point was ukraine. i'm not exactly sure what you've heard from your sources, but what does the white house want to come out of this summit if they feel that they could come up with a win? >> reporter: yeah. american officials did say this morning that work was still under way on that communique. i think what is most likely, and i think what i've heard from folks who are involved in this what is most likely is some sort of compromise language in that document, something that would most likely reflect the document that came out of last year's g20 in bali, which stated most members of the g20 condemned russia's war in ukraine. and the implication there is not all g20 members condemned russia's war in ukraine, most principally russia. i think the work is probably continuing. of course the leaders themselves will have to sign off on this d document before they put their names on it at the end of this summit. there has never been a g20 that did not result in a joint comm communique. i think it would be striking if this one didn't. it would reflect the fractured nature of the world at this moment when you have the u.s. and europe on one side and you have russia and china on the other, and you have all these other countries in the middle who aren't necessarily taking a side. one of the objectives for president biden, when he speaks to this gathering today, is to talk about the war in ukraine and to sort of make the case that it is an imperative for global democracy for these countries to come out and forcefully condemn russia's gr aggression. so certainly i think work still continuing today, paula. >> absolutely, as they continue through their sessions there. we've noted the chinese and russian leaders are not there. we've had experts on both sides saying for joe biden, this is an advantage. other people say it's a disadvantage. what do you think? what have white house officials told you, especially when it comes to making progress on things like climate? >> well, i think we could take president biden himself at his word. he said it was a disappointment that president xi wasn't here. but at the same time, you do hear from white house officials that there are opportunities in these absences. it certainly allows president biden to make the case particularly to the developing world that the u.s. is a more reliable partner when it comes to things like investments. and certainly by showing up here, he is making that case, and he is coming armed with certain proposals, things like reforming the world bank. he does also plan to announce this major transit corridor from asia to the middle east, eventually on to europe that could challenge china's global trade ambitions. so certainly president biden is trying to make the most of these absences. what it does prevent is any sort of interaction with these leaders. you'll remember at last year's g20, the major centerpiece was president biden's hours-long summit with president xi. he is trying to restore more normal channels of communication with china. he has been sending his top officials to beijing over the last several months. u.s. officials do still hold out hope that there could be a meeting between these two men in the coming months, potentially at the apex summit in november in san francisco. but certainly there won't be any of those discussions here. president biden sort of on his own as he represents u.s. interests on the world stage, paula. >> it is noteworthy sometimes the back room discussions in these meetings are as significant as what is done in public. thanks so much. really appreciate your insights there. hurricane lee has lost a bit of its punch, but it's still a major storm and may restrengthen yet again. the national hurricane center says lee is now a category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour or 185 kilometers per hour. lee is expected to pass well north of the virgin islands and puerto rico in the next few days. but the region will experience swells that could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. now, dangerous surf is also expected along most of the u.s. coast beginning sunday and monday. take a look at this video. with constant lightning flashes, it was recorded during a hurricane hunter's flight inside the eye of the storm thursday night when it had strengthened to a category 5 storm. the number of people still missing after those deadly wildfires in maui, hawaii, has come down again. authorities say 66 people remain unaccounted for. hawaii's governor stressed on friday that number was initially more than 3,000. that was in august when the fire struck, and a little less than 400 last week. but officials have made a great deal of progress, they say, locating people. the number of deaths, though, remains at 115. officials plan to reopen west maui to visitors and all travel restrictions likely by october 8th. still to come for us here on "cnn newsroom," the race to save lives after a russian missile hits a city in northeastern ukraine and survivors are trapped under the rubble. let's be more ththan our allergies! and for fast, allergy relief with a powerful decongestantnt, try zyrtec-d.. viruses and bacteria float all around us. unlike air fresheners, only new lysol air sanitizer kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. because scent can't sanitize. lysol can. we have dramatic video of rescue efforts after a russian strike in northeastern ukraine. it shows emergency workers putting out a fire and then digging through the rubble after a cruise missile hit the city on friday. officials say three people were wounded, including two pulled from beneath a building destroyed by the strike. earlier in the day this footage shows the moment when another missile hit president zelenskyy's hometown. the missile hit the city center, killing one person and leaving 54 others injured. at least ten buildings were damaged. ukraine says russian missiles have also killed three people in kherson and wounded four others. meantime, ukraine has received the first batch of leopard 1 tanks donated by denmark. the danish military says 10 tanks similar to the ones you see there have already been delivered, and 10 more should arrive soon. ukraine is expected to receive more than 130 leopard 1s from allies, but those tanks first have to be refurbished because they've been decommissioned and sat in storage for nearly 20 years. voting, meantime, is under way in russian-occupied regions of ukraine as moscow tries to exert control in the elections. the international community has kremlin-backed candidates, some of whom are runnunopposed, ar expected to be installed after that process. represents yet another attempt by moscow to force a narrative of russian legitimacy. for more on all of this, we're joined by fred pleitgen from london. fred, good to have you weigh in on this. we'll turn firstly to those so-called elections. russia's tried this before. they claim it's successful for them. i find the timing rather odd. what do you know? >> reporter: i think the timing -- some people see it as being quite odd because of course right now, we see the ukrainians are on the offensive and the russians are clearly having trouble holding ground there. one of the things that the ukraines believe is that the russians are obviously trying to legitimize the fact that they occupy these territories. we saw one of the big issues in our lead-in here with all of that, in that the russians don't even control all of these regions where they are claiming to hold these elections. the ukrainians are saying two things. they say this is a violation of the territorial integrity of ukraine. we can see the map there on our screen. again, ukraine is obviously saying this is ukrainian territory. the international community says exactly the same thing. but they also say this is a flagrant violation of the rights of the people who live in that area because they say the people are essentially being coerced to go and vote in those elections. the ukrainians are saying in some cases russian-installed officials are going door to door to essentially bring people to the polling stations. the ukrainians say on the one hand, that is to act as though there were queues in front of some of these polling stations, that people really want to go and vote there even though in many cases ukrainians believe they don't. but it also is of course to make sure there are no protests or anything on the side. the russians take a very different view on all of this. they say that this is part of russia now, that these elections are very important on a local level. the international community, as you've also said, paula, absolutely correctly saying that these elections are not legitimate and are, in fact, a violation, a flagrant violation of international law. >> yeah. fred, you have a lot of experience on the ground in ukraine. you've heard all the debate in the last few weeks about this counteroffensive and how it's going. we certainly have more evidence that it is going relatively well. i mean, for ukraine although slow. you point out, though, there's a lot of preparations being made for the year ahead. >> reporter: there certainly are. i think that one of the things the ukrainians are now looking to, and i think the u.s. and some of of the supporters of ukraine are also looking to as well is longer-term support. we saw that when secretary of state blinken was just in kyiv just now where some of the things they were talking about was supporting the counteroffensive and making sure that the counteroffensive continues to go on. but then also longer-term support like, for instance, that depleted uranium munitions. those tanks are not set to arrive on the battlefield until later this fall, so that certainly is an important longer-term step. when we look at some of the f-16s the ukrainians are supposed to get, the ukrainians are saying that the international community or its supporters and especially the u.s. should have patience with ukraine as the counteroffensive goes on. but they do say they are making headway. here's what we're learning. ukrainian troops assaulting russian positions in eastern ukraine. kyiv says its forces are piling on the pressure both here and on the southern front line and are gearing up for more. these soldiers practicing mountain warfare specifically to assault russian-occupied crimea. >> translator: if we come to crimea, there is a big possibility we would really need these skills. we would definitely be fighting in the mountains because there will be partisan warfare. >> reporter: but ukraine'