In its most difficult hours, perhaps the worst in its recent history, Morocco has lost its smile and its joy. From Tangier to Marrakech, from the Rif to the Atlas, the rugged and harsh Atlas, once again the savior of a whole people, Moroccans silently mourn the more than 2,300 dead and several thousand injured left behind by the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck the southwest of the country last Friday, according to the Interior Ministry.
The numbers are breathtaking. The breakdown said the earthquake left 1,351 dead in Al Haouz province, 492 dead in Taroudant province, 201 dead in Chichaua province and 17 in Marrakesh prefecture. The Moroccans’ painful belief is that the number of dead and injured will continue to rise in the coming hours. Indispensable. “The Moroccan state is overwhelmed. We need help. “There are not enough resources to rescue the trapped people with the necessary speed,” complains the head of the digital “Morocco World News” to LA RAZÓN.
The protagonists at that time, on Saturday afternoon, King Mohammed VI ordered. – given the doubts caused by his absences, the monarch was able to quickly take command – the full mobilization of the Moroccan troops, the Royal Armed Forces They are trying to rescue survivors in the region most affected by the quake, the Al Hauza province in the High Atlas .
If the village of Ighil, about 70 kilometers from Marrakesh, was forever marked on maps as the epicenter of the earthquake on the earth’s surface, then that is the truth Ground Zero is a sprawling mountainous region with many adobe and thatched roofs that blend into the rugged terrain where more than 60,000 people survive every day. Due to the orography, the mountains, which in some places are over 4,000 meters high, and the lack of infrastructure, with many of these places not accessible by roads, it will be impossible for the armed forces to arrive in time.
Because Many of these populations were literally reduced to rubble. Deleted from cards. “Morocco would need hundreds of thousands of dollars and many years to get roads and basic services to these areas. It’s endless,” Rachid Bennani, a resident of Moroccan capital Demnate in the Atlas Mountains, told the newspaper.
And from the insufficient material resources of the Moroccan authorities to solidarity. There have been queues in front of blood donation centers since Saturday of the major Moroccan cities, with the military as an example, and brigades of volunteers, from lifeguards to translators, are organized in Marrakesh, which has been transformed into a base camp of the infinite solidarity of Moroccans to persevere the various expeditions of the armed forces on mountain routes. Yesterday, mosques across the country celebrated the Absentee Prayer in memory of the thousands who died.
And from national to international solidarity, because the world has turned to Morocco in the last few hours. And one of the countries that responded most quickly and with the greatest intensity to the tragedy in Morocco is Spain. A team from the Military Emergency Unit, consisting of at least 65 members of the Spanish Armed Forces, traveled to the small town of Talat N’Yaacoub, one of the towns most affected by the earthquake, to assist in the search tasks and rescue of survivors. Firefighters and volunteers from the autonomous communities were on the way.
Far away from Marrakech, in the capital, a taxi driver responds with measured and blunt words: “It is the will of God. A warning”. The conversation ends there. There is nothing more to add. In the cafes, the other epicenter of Moroccan society, the daily agora of its cities and towns, nothing else is talked about and the televisions broadcast incessant images of destruction from the High Atlas before the watchful and sad eyes of Moroccans. After more than two years of economic hardship, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the drought, Moroccans are experiencing a new setback. Tourism fears another setback after the two empty years caused by the coronavirus and yesterday industry professionals reminded that among the visitors there is not a single victim to regret.
“It is a misfortune like no other we have experienced recently, but.” History shows that the Moroccan people emerged stronger from the disaster. We are a resilient people who show strength in adversity. Our state, more than our government, our people, generation after generation, have taken note of the events. Let’s hope that this will also be the case now,” enthuses the head of the Moroccan digital magazine about this medium. Meanwhile, residents of Marrakech’s medina, a few meters from Jemaa El Fna and Koutoubia squares, with a Jewish neighborhood or “Mellah” particularly damaged by the earthquake, were busy clearing the alleys of debris yesterday. Small groups of young tourists tried to navigate the remains of brick and cement with their suitcases, looking for the shortest and safest route to their “riads”. There is no desire for almost anything, but life moves along in fits and starts in the medina.