A year ago, the ground shook in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. The damage was enormous. How are the locals doing? Survivors complain that reconstruction is slow.
Just after 11 p.m. on September 8, 2023, life changed for many in the Atlas Mountains. The earthquake killed nearly 3,000 people, left about 300,000 homeless, and destroyed or damaged 60,000 buildings. The magnitude 6.8 tremor was felt as far away as Marrakech, 70 km away. But now, while tourists are walking around the area again, the people of the mountains are still living in tents.
“Our belongings are buried here, our daily lives are buried here. What do we do?” asks Zahra El Manari, standing on the rubble of her home. She came here a year ago to look for buried animals. She lost 17 relatives, including her father, the night of the earthquake. The small village of Tafghaghate, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, was a mess, strewn with mud bricks and the belongings of people who had just eaten, slept and prayed. Nearly half of the 240 residents were dead. Zahra’s neighbors can now see half-finished walls and steel beams, a sign of a village slowly coming back to life.
Zahra El Manari and her family were already poor before the earthquake. When the state payments end, she says, they will be left with nothing.
The tent city is still there
Zahra lives with her husband Abdelrahim, her 12-year-old son Yacine, and some chickens in a tent made from relief supplies after the earthquake. The tarpaulin was brought in by the state, and a private donor gave her a refrigerator.
Immediately after the earthquake, many of their compatriots came with clothes. Like most people here, the family was poor before the earthquake. But they were happy and managed to survive with little. “We took care of the cows and sold the milk,” Zahra said. “That’s how we survived. If the state stopped paying now, we would have nothing.” By September, they will receive 2,500 dirhams (about 230 euros) a month. Zahra emphasizes that she is grateful to the king for his help.
According to the royal family, nearly 1,000 homes have been completed, or 1,000 out of a total of 60,000.
The obstacles to reconstruction are high
They also received the first installment for the reconstruction of their house: 20,000 dirhams, or about 1,850 euros. But nothing is visible except the 70-square-meter foundation. There is not enough money to continue building, says Zahra. They were waiting for the next payment. Only those who still have their own money can advance faster.
The responsible National Committee has made “remarkable positive progress” in reconstruction based on “the high instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.” Findings: 57,805 households have received the first of four installments for reconstruction and nearly 1,000 households have completed their housing projects, representing about 1,000 out of approximately 60,000 households affected.
Debris lies on the right and left slopes of the dusty road along the main route to the Atlas Mountains. The road, partially buried by the earthquake, is being rebuilt at government expense. The central square of the small town of Asni, which a year ago was a huge tent camp with a hospital and a transfer point for relief transport, is empty again. According to government information, a newly built health center and school are now operating again. This is somewhat normal.
Fear of next winter in a tent
Abdelrahim Amehdar works for the local aid agency “Afous Afous.” He said progress is very slow compared to what the government says. People often have to wait a long time for their applications to be processed. Asni is known for its cold winters, and people have already spent a difficult winter in tents. “We expect the situation to improve and the government to take responsibility.”
Amehdar reported protests as far away as the capital Rabat, but nothing changed. People were left waiting for at least another winter in tents.
Germany’s offer of help was initially rejected.
International relief organizations set up living containers on both sides of the road leading to the epicenter at the time. Immediately after the earthquake, Germany officially offered assistance to Morocco, but the then royal family declined and only four countries – Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – accepted emergency assistance. Individual helpers still came from various countries. And the German Development Ministry had long ago started a project to provide loans to the country for reconstruction and to secure furnaces and water supplies.
Caritas International recently announced it would increase the scale of its previous aid, said Gernot Ritthaler, the organization’s disaster relief coordinator. tagesschau.deThe Moroccan government has done a ‘respectable job’ and responded appropriately compared to other disaster-stricken countries, although comparisons are difficult.
His organization no longer accepts targeted donations for earthquake victims. Unfortunately, especially in “small disasters” like this one, donor willingness dries up very quickly, Ritthaler reports. “By the time the topic is out of the press for two or three weeks, there’s very little left to donate.”
no way A faint hope In Tinmel
Locals are also aware of this. Take Tinmel, for example, where one of Morocco’s most important buildings, a 12th-century mosque, was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. The surrounding houses were also affected. Mohamed Afraoui, the owner of the café, says international helpers come only once a month at most. Nevertheless, he is confident that the mosque is not only a place of great spiritual importance, but will also attract tourists in the future. Then people will be able to make money again. A glimmer of hope.
But about 15 km behind Tinmel, suddenly nothing is sparkling. This is where the earthquake was at its epicenter. A year ago, traffic was stopped and people were rescued by air. Just before the village of Amaskraghijjane, a few men stand in the street, talking desperately about everything they lack: water, food, work.
Their village, beautifully perched on a hill, still remains a field of reddish-brown rubble. The towers of the slanted mosques jut out from the village. Not a single new wall has been built. A year later, it seems as if the earth shook yesterday.
