Race against time to find survivors in Morocco

Search and rescue teams from home and abroad are continuing to dig through the rubble, hoping to find signs of life in a race against time after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck late last Friday.

Run against time to find survivors after the earthquake in morocco picture 1 — A villager looks at destroyed houses in Douzrou on September 12, 2023, after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake. Photo: AFP

The Red Cross is appealing for more than $100 million in aid to meet the “most urgent needs” in the North African country, including water, shelter, health and sanitation services.

“We need to make sure we avoid a second wave of disasters,” said Caroline Holt, director of global operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

In the tourist resort of Marrakesh, home to a UNESCO-listed historic centre, many families are still sleeping outdoors, covered in blankets, in public squares for fear of aftershocks.

In poor and remote mountain villages, many accessible only by winding dirt roads, where traditional brick houses are crumbling and dusty, people have to dig by hand, searching for missing relatives.

About 100 people were killed in the mountain village of Douzrou, 80km from Marrakech, with survivors now living in makeshift shelters, away from destroyed homes.

“We lost everything, even our livestock, but no one came to visit us,” said Hossine Benhammou, 61, who lost nine family members in the earthquake.

“The weather conditions here are very harsh. We fear the worst, that winter is coming,” said Ismail Oubella, 36, who lost three children, his pregnant wife and his mother.

Another resident, Lahcen Ouhmane, 68, said "we fear the rains could cut off the paved road leading into our village. We risk starvation".

The earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in Morocco and the deadliest to hit the country since a 1960 quake destroyed the city of Agadir on the Atlantic coast, killing an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people.

Overall, at least 2,901 people were killed and 5,530 injured in the tragedy, according to the latest official figures released on Tuesday.

Morocco has allowed rescue teams from Spain, Britain, Qatar and the UAE to help, but has so far refused offers from several other countries, including the United States and Israel.

Albert Vasquez, the Spanish unit's liaison officer, warned on Monday that “it is very difficult to find anyone alive after three days” but stressed that “hope is still there”.

The United Nations estimates more than 300,000 people were affected, a third of them children, by the powerful quake that struck just after 11pm when most families were asleep.

The reconstruction effort is expected to be huge for the economically struggling country, which has faced years of drought and is now worried about a downturn in its vital tourism sector.

Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch chaired a meeting on housing and reconstruction on Monday, later pledging that "citizens who lost their homes will receive compensation".

Mai Van (according to AFP, CNA)

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