As Morocco Tries to Rebuild After Quake, Tradition Is Top of Many Minds

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Experts say the government should preserve cultural and architectural heritage, while also building disaster-resistant homes. In the meantime, residents are living in tents and in limbo.

The Agadir Oufella, a fortress in Morocco, was damaged during an earthquake in 1960 but has been restored more recently. | Hannah Reyes Morales for The New York Times
Boujemaa Kouti still remembers the screams of his neighbors trapped under the rubble of their houses, calling for help that horrific night 63 years ago.

He was just 8 and asleep when a large earthquake struck Morocco in 1960, wiping out entire neighborhoods in the coastal city of Agadir, near the Atlas Mountains, and killing at least 12,000 people.

“I saw stars when I woke up,” Mr. Kouti said, and then he heard “people screaming ‘Save me’ — calling for their family.”

Mr. Kouti’s older brother died, and the Kouti family lived in tents for almost a year as Agadir was mostly rebuilt at a location nearby deemed safer.

Rubble was bulldozed and cleared, and vast amounts of concrete was poured as buildings with stricter seismic standards went up.

The Agadir Oufella, a 16th-century fortress partly damaged in the quake, was eventually restored, and a memorial was erected on top of a hill where many died. » | Aida Alami, Reporting from Agadir and Marrakesh, Morocco | Sunday, November 19, 2023

Morocco After the Quake | Between Us

Sep 21, 2023 | When senior foreign correspondent Stefanie Dekker arrived in Morocco, she witnessed the extent of the destruction of the earthquake that shook the country on September 8.

In this episode of Between Us, Dekker reveals the challenges faced when covering a natural disaster as well as the emotional toll it has taken on everyone.

Libya and Morocco: Two Very Different Responses to Catastrophe

THE GUARDIAN: The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

Not one but two disasters have struck in recent days – the earthquake in Morocco and devastating flooding in Libya.

At least 2,900 people are known to have died in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains a week ago, and the authorities say the death toll will rise.

Three days later, on 11 September, intense flooding in Libya led to the collapse of two dams that unleashed a torrent of mud and water into Derna, destroying large parts of the eastern city.

On Friday morning, the Libyan Red Crescent said the number of people who had died in the city had risen to 11,000 and was expected to rise further as rescue teams arrived and helped to retrieve more bodies from the mud. Officials said 30,000 people were missing.

The full scale of the disaster may be far greater, as few international aid agencies or news reporters have been able to reach the flood-hit area. This area is controlled not by the government in Tripoli but by a rival warlord.

Morocco and Libya may be geographically relatively close to each other – just a 2,000km hop across Algeria – but they could not be two more different countries. This has had a huge impact on their ability to respond to the disasters. » | Rupert Neate and Peter Beaumont | Friday, September 15, 2023

Morocco to Help Rebuild 50,000 Earthquake-damaged Homes – BBC News

Sep 15, 2023 | Moroccan authorities have announced plans to fund the rebuilding of about 50,000 homes damaged by last week's earthquake. They will provide more than $13,000 (£10,460) for the reconstruction of homes which have been completely destroyed, and $8,000 for those with partial damage.

Residents will meanwhile be given temporary shelters and each household will receive a grant of $3,000. The exact number of people left homeless is still not known.

Nearly 3,000 people have been confirmed dead, and more than 5,000 injured in the 6.8 magnitude quake.

Morocco: Living in a Tent Where Your House Once Was | DW News

Sep 15, 2023 | Picking up the pieces after last week's devastating earthquake in Morocco. Those whose homes were destroyed in the quake are now struggling to make do in makeshift shelters, wherever they can.

Morocco Earthquake Survivors Desperate for Help - BBC News

Sep 14, 2023 | Life-saving work is taking place against all odds in Morocco as search and rescue operations continue.

The epicentre of the tremor was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71km (44 miles) from Marrakesh, and many of the worst affected areas are remote villages and towns.

Since the earthquake struck, there's been a growing spotlight on the deployment of international search teams. On Sunday, amid local criticism of a patchy and slow response by authorities, Morocco's government sparked controversy by deciding to only accept help from four countries. It defended the move, saying "a lack of co-ordination could be counterproductive".

Aftershock Rocks Moroccan Village | DW News

Sep 14, 2023 | Soldiers and aid workers in Morocco are making their way to remote rural areas, where entire villages have been wiped out. An aftershock shook a village near the epicenter on Wednesday evening, as emergency responders dug through rubble. Meanwhile, authorities work to re-open damaged and blocked roads.

King of Morocco, Mohammed VI Refuses Earthquake Aid from the US & France | 10 News First

Sep 11, 2023 | King of Morocco Mohammed VI has denied aid from the U.S. and France after an earthquake southeast of Marrakesh killed more than 2,000 people and impacted roughly 300,000.

Earthquake Puts Morocco’s Elusive King in Spotlight

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The monarchy is revered and nearly all powerful in Morocco. But details about the lives and actions of the king, his family and his entourage remain mysterious and subject to speculation.

A photograph released by the Moroccan Royal Palace shows King Mohammed VI, center, during a reception in July on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the sovereign’s accession to the throne in M’Diq, northern Morocco. | Moroccan Royal Palace, via Associated Press
When a devastating earthquake hit Morocco on Friday night, killing more than 2,900 people, King Mohammed VI was in Paris, where he spends a great deal of his time.

It took him most of a day to return to his country and make his only public statement so far — a terse communiqué. Later on Saturday, television showed him presiding over a cabinet meeting, but there was no sound.

He visited a hospital on Tuesday and donated blood. But his low visibility and silence, coupled with the government’s response to the earthquake, have been criticized, with some saying officials are paralyzed because they are awaiting authorization for action from the king.

Moroccan officials argue that they are on top of the crisis and will ask for help as they need it, adding that the king was guiding the response from the beginning.

The king, who turned 60 on Aug. 21, is the richest and most powerful person in Morocco. He is constitutionally both head of the armed forces and, controversially in Islam, of religious matters, as the Commander of the Faithful.

As head of state, he oversees a constitutional monarchy, a managed semi-democracy, with real power exercised by advisers and ministers dominated by his high-school friends. But his authorization for action is vital. » | Steven Erlanger, Reporting from Berlin | Tuesday, September 12, 2023

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Morocco Earthquake: Death Toll Approaches 2,900 as Search Continues

Sep 12, 2023 | The number of people killed in an earthquake in Morocco on Friday has risen to nearly 2,900. Many survivors have spent another night in tents after their homes were destroyed. Rescue teams continue searching for those who could be trapped under the rubble. The army and aid agencies have reached some remote villages in the Atlas Mountains. Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque is live from Ouirgane, south of Marrakesh for the latest updates.

Morocco Quake Survivors Call for More Help after Entire Villages Destroyed

THE GUARDIAN: As scale of disaster become clearer, survivors in small mountain communities feel they have been abandoned

A woman tries to recover some of her possessions from her home in the village of Tafeghaghte.Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP
As the dirt roads leading to some of the areas worst hit in Friday’s earthquake in Morocco were gradually cleared, the full extent of the disaster was being revealed, including whole villages destroyed in Al Haouz province. In the tiny hamlet of Tarouiste, in the Atlas mountain foothills above the town of Amizmiz, not one of a dozen houses was left standing. Only the village mosque had not been reduced to rubble.

With the first international search and rescue teams finally deploying to the worst-affected areas on Monday, after a disaster that has claimed at least 2,800 lives, it was clear that the window to find anyone alive beneath the rubble was rapidly closing. As relief efforts stepped up a gear, the Guardian visited a series of mountain villages that had been almost entirely destroyed, where residents said they felt they had been abandoned.

In Tarouiste, people described how they had been left to carry the dead bodies of six neighbours down the mountain where they were met by private cars, as no ambulances or other government aid had yet reached them.

“No one has come to help us,” said Hassan al-Mati, whose mother was one of those who died, with frustration in his voice. “We need trucks to come to help us move the dead animals buried in the rubble. We need tents and food. We feel like we have been abandoned. » | Peter Beaumont in Tafeghaghte | Monday, September 11, 2023

British Rescue Teams Arrive in Morocco as Earthquake Death Toll Passes 2,400 | ITV News

Sep 11, 2023 | More than 2,400 people have died in the strongest earthquake to hit Morocco in over a century, with the death toll continuing to rise. ITV News' Sangita Lal reports from some of the most remote Moroccan villages left devastated by the earthquake.

Morocco Earthquake: The Village Where the Search for Survivors Has Stopped | Dispatch

Sep 11, 2023 | Mustapha Ait Wa Aziz stood atop a pile of rubble in the village of Moulay Brahim in Morocco's High Atlas mountains.

Until Friday night it was a four-floor building with a terrace offering fabulous views towards Mount Toubkal, Morocco’s highest peak at 4,167m, which towered in the distance.

But in the space of 30 seconds, the entire building collapsed, crushing Mustapha’s sister Soad and her 16-year-old son Abdessamad.

He pointed to the two spots where he and other villagers eventually pulled their lifeless bodies out of the wreckage.

Moulay Brahim was near the epicentre of Morocco’s worst earthquake on record, which by Monday night had already claimed 2,681 lives - half of them in the in Al-Haouz province where the village is located.

Strongest Earthquake in Morocco Has Killed More Than 2,100 People and Injured Hundreds of Others

Sep 11, 2023 | In Morocco where more than 48 hours have passed since the country was struck by its most devastating natural disaster in decades. Emergency teams are in a race against time to find survivors. So far, more than 2,100 people are confirmed dead and that number is expected to rise.


LIVE EN COURS : Séisme au Maroc, en direct : au moins 2 681 personnes sont mortes, selon le dernier bilan du ministère de l’intérieur : Les secouristes marocains, appuyés par des équipes étrangères, redoublent d’efforts lundi pour retrouver d’éventuels survivants et fournir l’assistance à des centaines de sans-abri. »

Morocco Earthquake Death Toll Rises to Nearly 2,500 - BBC News

Sep 11, 2023 | The number of people killed in a powerful earthquake in Morocco has risen to almost 2,500, officials have said. Rescuers have been using their bare hands to dig for survivors. Heavy lifting equipment can't get through roads blocked by boulders to reach remote villages near the epicentre. Friday's earthquake, the country's deadliest in 60 years, struck below villages in the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh.

'No One Has Come to Help Us': A Father Mourns His Children

This is devastatingly tragic and heart-rending! This poor man’s losses are cruel beyond measure. May his poor children rest in peace. (الله يكون مع هذا الأب والله مع أبنائه) – © Mark Alexander

Morocco Earthquake: Foreign Aid Teams Join Efforts to Find Survivors

THE GUARDIAN: Authorities ‘respond favourably’ to help from Spain, Qatar, UK and UAE, but other offers not yet taken up

Select foreign aid and rescue teams have joined desperate efforts to find any remaining survivors high in Morocco’s Atlas mountains, three days after a powerful earthquake.

Moroccan authorities said they had “responded favourably” to offers of help from visiting search and rescue teams from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates, but were yet to accept further offers of aid from other countries despite the urgent nature of the disaster.

Turkey, which experienced a deadly earthquake in February, has offered emergency response teams and aid. Its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said it would help “with all means” if Rabat accepted the offer.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, told the G20 summit in Delhi that France stood ready to provide immediate aid, with no reply from Rabat. “Moroccan authorities know exactly what can be delivered, the nature [of what can be delivered] and the timing … We are at their disposal. We did everything we could do … The second they request this aid, it will be deployed,” he said. » | Ruth Michaelson, Peter Beaumont in Tafegheghte and Dounia Z Mseffer in Casablanca | Monday, September 11, 2023

Why the Morocco Earthquake Was So Destructive and Deadly | DW News

Sep 10, 2023 | A powerful earthquake in Morocco has caused death and destruction. More than 2,000 people are now known to have died after the quake struck in the High Atlas Mountains, southwest of Marrakech. King Mohammed has called for three days of mourning as rescue attempts continue in the areas badly affected by the 6.8 magnitude quake, the biggest to hit the country in 120 years.

Jewish Heart of Marrakesh in Ruins

AISH: Morocco’s ancient Jewish quarter was severely damaged by Friday’s earthquake.

The horrific 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night killed thousands of people; many more are injured or missing. International rescuers have been pouring into Morocco to help. Israel’s highly trained disaster relief experts are on stand-by, waiting for permission from Morocco to enter the country and help.

The epicenter of the earthquake was in the High Atlas mountain region, about 45 miles southwest of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech), Morocco’s fourth-largest city. Much of Marrakesh has been damaged, including the city’s historic “Mellah,” or Jewish quarter. “It’s as if it was hit by a bomb,” explained Hafida Sahaouia, a resident of the quarter, whose own home was utterly destroyed. “We were preparing dinner when we heard something like explosions. Panicked, I quickly went outside with our children. Unfortunately, our house collapsed. We lost everything.” » | Dr. Yvette Alt Miller | Sunday, September 10, 2023

Morocco Earthquake: More Than 2,000 Killed – BBC News

Sep 10, 2023 | More than 2,000 people have been killed and more than 1,400 injured after a powerful earthquake struck in Morocco. Morocco’s king declared three days of national mourning and ordered shelter, food and other help for survivors. Many people are spending a second night out in the open.