Earthquake areas
Isolated villages in Morocco lack basic necessities
Rescue workers are searching for a possible survivor in the rubble of a collapsed house in Imi N’tala. photo
© Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Villages in the mountainous disaster area are cut off from the outside world. Rescue workers are dropping aid packages from planes – and volunteers from all over Morocco are trying to alleviate the people’s suffering.
In many mountain villages in the disaster areas Even days after the severe earthquake, Morocco continues to lack the things it needs to survive. Helpers have still not been able to reach all the villages in the hard-hit Atlas Mountains.
Rescue workers therefore drop aid packages from planes. To speed up deliveries, an increasing number of young volunteers from across the country are organizing the distribution of aid to many mountain communities that lack basic necessities.
Warning about human trafficking of young girls
Meanwhile, the Moroccan news site Hespress warned of the danger of human trafficking of young girls who became victims of the earthquake. Posts began circulating on social media in which Moroccan men tried to take advantage of the emergency and suggested marrying underage earthquake victims in order to “save them from their tragedies,” Hespress reported.
According to information from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), around 100,000 children are affected by the disaster. Thousands of houses were destroyed. As a result, many families became homeless and had to spend the cold nights outdoors.
Meanwhile, according to the British broadcaster BBC, more and more young activists are coordinating the distribution of relief supplies for the suffering people in the country’s severely affected and remote mountain villages. Milk, diapers and bedding were passed along in human chains and loaded into trucks destined for the villages in the Atlas Mountains, it said. In many areas, those in need would be supplied more quickly than through official aid channels.
Danger from falling rocks
Efforts to clear boulders from roads have been slow because of the ongoing threat of rock falls in some areas, a dpa reporter reported yesterday. A lot 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.
The German Red Cross is now sending the first aid transport to the earthquake areas. On Thursday morning, a plane was scheduled to take off from Leipzig/Halle Airport with a total of 36.6 tons of relief supplies, as the DRK announced in advance. There are more than 3,000 insulating floor mats and 550 family tents on board.
According to the Moroccan Interior Ministry, 2,946 dead and 5,674 injured have been counted so far. However, there are fears that the numbers are rising. The hope of finding survivors is now vanishingly small.