The DRK is the first German organization to send aid to the Moroccan earthquake zone. There is still no official request for help, but there is one from the Red Crescent. The death toll rose to more than 2,900.
After the severe earthquake in Morocco with thousands of deaths, the German Red Cross (DRK) wants to fly help to the North African country on Thursday. It is the first German organization to send humanitarian aid to the country.
“The situation is still confusing, but we are confident that with this first transport of relief goods we can make a contribution to helping the local people,” said DRK representative Christof Johnen to the editorial network Germany (RND).
According to the information, the flight is scheduled to take off from Leipzig Airport on Thursday morning. These include more than 3,000 insulating floor mats and 550 family tents. DRK employees would also fly to Morocco with the relief supplies “to provide local support in coordinating the aid.”
Request support from the Red Crescent
According to Johnen, there is currently no government request for help from Morocco. However, every Red Cross or Red Crescent society in the world has the right to ask its sister societies for support. “And that’s what’s happening right now.” The Moroccan Red Crescent has asked the DRK for support, said Johnen. “The relief supplies are accepted by our local partner and then, in coordination with the local authorities, taken to where the relief supplies are most urgently needed.”
So far, the Moroccan government has rejected offers of help from most countries. Only rescue teams from Spain, Great Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were allowed into the country.
More than 300,000 people affected
The quake on late Friday evening was the worst in Morocco in decades. It had a magnitude of 6.8. According to the latest information from the Moroccan Interior Ministry, more than 2,900 people have died and thousands have been injured.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 300,000 people in Marrakech and surrounding areas are affected by the accident. Five days after the quake, there was effectively no hope of survivors. Emergency services are increasingly focusing on providing emergency shelter and essential survival supplies such as clean water and food.
Cold nights outdoors
There is great distress in the mountain villages that are cut off from the outside world. Efforts to clear the roads of boulders have been slow because of the ongoing threat of rockfall in some areas, the dpa news agency reported. Large quantities of blankets and food have already been delivered to the disaster region. However, many of the isolated people are asking authorities and aid workers to provide tents to protect them from the bitter cold at night.
According to information from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), around 100,000 children are affected by the disaster. Thousands of houses in the country were destroyed. As a result, many families became homeless and had to spend the night outside.