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
