A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Morocco’s Marrakesh-Safi region just after 11 PM on September 8, 2023. It is the largest earthquake recorded in Morocco in at least 120 years, and the deadliest in the country since the 1960 earthquake in Agadir. 2,901 people have died and well over 5,000 are injured as of this writing, but as searches continue these numbers are expected to rise. Rescue efforts are particularly difficult given that the areas most affected are rural and mountainous. The Red Cross has claimed that recovery may take years.
Sampan is published through the Asian American Civic Association. Many of our students, clients, and employees are from Morocco. We share in their pain, and we want to bring you reactions from Moroccan individuals, some of whom live in the States and some of whom are in Morocco. One of our sources, who grew up in Morocco and now lives in Massachusetts, gave us more information about what is happening on the ground in the affected regions.
“Some villages were completely wiped out, with over 90% of the population dead. The injured in certain villages are still waiting for rescue forces to arrive due to geographical challenges and blocked routes,” he tells us. “Moreover, the royal armed forces sent some important rescue forces to the mountains and helicopters to reach those isolated areas. Tents were deployed and a military field hospital was established near the affected areas to provide initial and urgent assistance to the injured.”
Morocco is using all of its resources to address this tragedy, and multiple other countries, including the US, India, and Algeria have pledged financial assistance and humanitarian support. Thus far, the Moroccan government has only accepted aid from Qatar, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, though this may soon change. As one of our sources tells us, within Morocco “people from the north to the south have shown again to the world how they come together in moments of need. Many influencers in social media launched donation campaigns to collect food, clothing, blankets, and other items to help their fellow citizens in the mountains. The amount of donations and generosity displayed during [the past few days] were astonishing, and left many speechless of how Moroccan people unite during difficult times.”
Rescue attempts are still going on. One of our Moroccan colleagues says, “the aftermath will be hard to assess right now, but the head of a parliament chamber announced earlier that it will take 5-6 years to rebuild those areas. 90% of the damage happened to villages in the mountains where it is very difficult to travel to by car…Unfortunately, this earthquake hit one of the most fragile areas of Morocco, where people were already struggling during tough, cold, and snowy winters, lack of water, and lack of agricultural fields.”
The Moroccan government has received some criticism for the perceived slowness of its reaction to the earthquake. King Mohammed VI waited 18 hours to make an official announcement on the earthquake, and official requests for assistance were delayed. International coordination over the next few weeks will be crucial to rescue more people and begin to repair the damage to the areas hit by the earthquake, and while the Moroccan government has refused some aid (for example, from Algeria), many countries and international bodies, such as the European Union and United Nations, have pledged to help in whatever way the Moroccan government will accept. Residents of Morocco are also eager to assist in these efforts. One of our sources currently living in Morocco describes “hundreds of posts on social networks [showing] the movement of hundreds of trucks loaded with tons of aid from various cities and destinations in the Kingdom to the affected areas.” She continues by reflecting on the feelings of unity across the country: “The sense of solidarity shown by Moroccans shows just how deeply rooted the various forms of solidarity are in Moroccan culture. What stands out in this vast campaign is the clear and perceptible presence of the human motif, followed by spontaneity and immediacy.” This tragedy is terrible, but our fellow human beings do not wait to lend a hand. We will no doubt continue to see this solidarity over the next few weeks, and people living in the United States can help too. You can donate to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support earthquake relief efforts here: https://donation.ifrc.org/?campaign=a4e4ced0-b350-ee11-a2e7-005056010027
