Moroccans show unprecedented solidarity, generosity towards quake-hit villagers

CASABLANCA - Thousands of Moroccans have extraordinarily responded to calls for help from villagers in the High Atlas who have lost their homes and loves ones following Friday’s devastating earthquake.

Photos and videos of humanitarian aid, including food, water, blankets and clothes, being collected and packed in lined-up trucks and cars across Morocco flooded social networks, an overwhelming sign of the civil society’s true sense of solidarity, generosity and patriotism.

Selwa Zine, President of El Baraka Angels, told Medi1 TV that her NGO was coordinating with local authorities to distribute aid on the needy.

“We launched an appeal for volunteers to come and help us in Marrakech… we need hands,” said Zine.

“There are villages that are still inaccessible because roads are blocked,” she added.

Relief workers face the challenge of reaching the worst-affected villages in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled.

The death toll from the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck in the High Atlas Mountains late on Friday stood at 2,862, with 2,562 people injured, but those figures looked likely to rise. 

Scores of truck and van owners are offering their vehicles for free to transport aid to the quake-stricken villages as humanitarian aid keeps pouring in from Moroccans.  

Amer Zghinou, President of the Moroccan Association of Intercontinental Road Transport (AMTRI), said they were placing some of their trucks by the supermarkets’ car parks after a huge demand from all parts of Morocco.

Fouad Benmir, a researcher in sociology, hailed Moroccans for their generosity and kindness.

“Moroccans have shown their true colours in this time of hardship. They generously give all what they have and this is what distinguishes this nation,” Benmir told Medi1 TV.

“Moroccans’ generosity and solidarity has provided a positive image about our country and sent a strong message to the world that everybody is mobilised if part of their beloved country is destroyed,” said Benmir.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance unveiled Sunday the creation of the Special Fund number 126 for the management of the effects of the earthquake.

The bank account will make it possible to receive voluntary solidarity contributions from private and public organisations and citizens. It will be mainly dedicated to expenses linked to the emergency program to rehabilitate and support the reconstruction of destroyed houses in the affected areas, to the care of people in difficult situations, in particular orphans and people in vulnerable situations or even with immediate support for all people left homeless following the earthquake, including housing, food and all basic needs.

The fund will also be used to encourage economic operators with a view to immediately resuming activities in the affected regions, to build up reserves and stocks of basic necessities in each region of the kingdom in order to cope with all forms of disasters and all other expenses associated with managing the effects of this earthquake.