Morocco: Earthquake survivors seek water and food

by Jihed Abidellaoui and Alexander Cornwell

MOULAY BRAHIM, Morocco (Reuters) – Survivors of Morocco’s powerful earthquake on Friday evening struggled to find water and food on Sunday as rescuers continued their search for possible survivors in remote villages in the Moroccan mountains. Atlas.

Many residents were forced or preferred to spend a second night outside following this 6.8 magnitude earthquake, which left more than 2,000 dead and caused significant damage in Marrakech, located a few dozen kilometers from the ‘epicenter.

One of the first challenges for the rescuers is to reach the most affected villages in the High Atlas, a mountainous region that is sometimes difficult to access where many homes have been razed by the earthquake.

In Moulay Brahim, a village close to the epicenter about forty kilometers south of Marrakech, residents say they searched the rubble of houses with their bare hands to try to find survivors.

“We lost our homes and we also lost people, and we have been sleeping outside for two days,” said one of them, Yacine Noumghar.

“No food. No water. We also lost electricity,” the 36-year-old continued, saying he had received little help from the authorities so far.

“We just want our government to help us,” he said, relaying a frustration expressed by others.

Residents of this village say they obtained food from relatives or friends living elsewhere.

Bread, cheese and hot drinks were distributed on Sunday morning at the mosque.

Tents were erected on a dusty football field as residents were wrapped in blankets after spending another night outside.

A man, who was trying to salvage mattresses and clothes from his devastated house, said he thought his neighbors were still under the ruins of their own home.

The government said on Saturday it was taking emergency measures to deal with the situation to intensify search and rescue operations and distribute food, drinking water, blankets and tents.

FRANCE READY TO HELP, WAITING FOR MOROCCO’S REQUEST

Morocco has sent a request for help to Spain, which will send rescuers, announced the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Emmanuel Macron reiterated France’s aid offer, stressing that it was now up to the Moroccan authorities to make the request.

“We are available and we have done everything we can do. The second this aid is requested, it will be deployed,” said the French president after the G20 summit in India.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry reported 2,012 dead and 2,059 injured, including 1,404 in serious condition.

Morocco has declared a three-day national mourning and King Mohammed VI called for prayers for the dead this Sunday in all the country’s mosques.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 300,000 people were affected by the earthquake.

“The next 24 to 48 hours will be decisive in saving lives,” Caroline Holt, global director of operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement.

Landslides near Moulay Brahim have partly blocked the winding road linking Marrakech to the Atlas Mountains.

“There are still a lot of people under the rubble. People are still looking for their loved ones,” Adini Moustafa, a resident near Asni, along a rock-strewn road, told Reuters.

The village of Tansghart in the same region of Asni, on the sides of a valley where the road from Marrakech rises towards the Atlas, is the most affected of the various localities visited by Reuters journalists.

Many houses, clinging to the slope, were gutted. Those that are still standing often have gaping holes in the walls. Two minarets collapsed.

Prostrate on the ground, Abdellatif Aït Bella, a farmer, can barely speak or move. His head is bandaged after being hit by debris.

“We have no house to take him to and we haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday,” says his wife Saïda Bodchich, who fears for the future of her family of six now that her husband, the only source of income, is seriously injured. “We cannot rely on anyone but God.”

Marrakech also suffered significant damage, particularly the medina, an old town very popular with foreign tourists.

This is the deadliest earthquake in Morocco since the one that struck Agadir in 1960, killing at least 12,000 people.

(With Ahmed Eljechtimi and Abdulhak Balhaki in the Marrakech region, Jose Joseph in Bangalore, Adam Makary and Omar Abdel-Razek in Cairo, Angus McDowall in London, Graham Keeley in Madrid, written by Tom Perry, French version Bertrand Boucey)