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Earthquake disaster: Hope for survivors in Morocco continues to dwindle

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Earthquake disaster
Hope for survivors in Morocco continues to dwindle

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck south of Marrakech. photo

© Fernando Sánchez/EUROPA PRESS/dpa

In Morocco, hope of finding survivors after the earthquake is dwindling. The helpers work on the verge of exhaustion. Remote villages are difficult to reach and help comes too late for many.

In the hard-to-reach earthquake areas In Morocco, the emergency services are working on the verge of exhaustion in the desperate search for survivors. They have to fight their way through rubble and piles of rubble in extreme heat, sometimes with their bare hands. But the hope of finding people still alive on the fourth day after the severe earthquake on Friday evening is dwindling by the hour. Dozens of villages were destroyed, the Moroccan news site Hespress reported. Not only do the residents have to recover and bury the dead, there is also a lack of food and water.

The head of operations for a British aid group warned on the BBC of an increasing risk of illness if aid was further delayed. Meanwhile, the emergency services continued to try to penetrate remote mountain villages. Heavy equipment such as bulldozers had to be used to clear rubble from roads in the rugged terrain so that ambulances could get through after landslides.

Given this desperate situation in the disaster areas, the Moroccan government is under increasing pressure to accept more international aid. Germany also once again offered support to the North African country. So far, however, the government in Rabat has shown no interest in this. However, Morocco thanked us for the offer, said a spokesman for the Foreign Office.

The number of deaths will probably continue to rise

So far, Morocco has only accepted aid from four countries – Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Officials in the country justified this by saying that, in their opinion, it would be too chaotic if teams from all over the world suddenly arrived in Morocco. According to the government, at least 2,862 deaths were counted by Monday evening and at least 2,562 other people were injured, many of them seriously. Numerous people are still missing.

It is therefore feared that the number of deaths will continue to rise. The authorities have now set up field hospitals near the epicenter to care for the injured, Justice Minister Abdel Latif Wehbe told the Arabic television station Al-Arabiya. The exact number of deaths and damages cannot be clarified at the moment. On Monday, military helicopters dropped aid packages over mountainous regions that were difficult to access.

In addition to humanitarian aid, the population now primarily needs psychological support, explained the aid organization Care. “In addition to the enormous physical devastation, the emotional damage caused by the horror experienced and the fear endured is very serious,” explained Hlima Razkaoui, Secretary General of Care Morocco, in a report.