“It’s a human catastrophe. It’s very sad and the country needs help. So I counted, we made around forty bags/boxes (…) And we didn’t finish,” explains Abla, volunteer. In the middle of the hall of her building, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, Hasnaa Guessous, co-founder of the e-commerce site “mysoukinthecity” decided to set up a collection of donations for Morocco after the violent earthquake of September 9 last: “As a Moroccan citizen in France, I wanted to contribute at my level” the entrepreneur tells us.
Four donation trucks
Canned goods, sweaters, wipes, compresses and disinfectants… “We try to classify them by category so that it is clear for those who receive them: that we have boxes/bags, for example of diapers, separately, foodstuffs separately, canned goods, clothes depending on whether it’s an adult or a child,” she explains. Moved, Francisca, a mother who came to drop off essentials, tells us: “It’s not possible to let people suffer. So mainly, because these are the things we give the least in general, [on a pris] products for babies, milk, diapers, wipes and for young girls or young women, sanitary towels, toothpaste, serum for babies… »
In just a day and a half of collection, nearly 4 tonnes of packages were accumulated. Four trucks are expected to arrive in Marrakech between September 16 and 18. Received by Firdaws Guessous, his sister and associate, they will then be redistributed to the places affected by the disaster.
From the streets to the networks, solidarity at short notice
“And how did you communicate about this?” “, asks a neighbor, slipping through the bags. “On the networks in fact, on Instagram, and it was then relayed” Hasnaa replies. With a community of 14,000 subscribers on Instagram in particular, “mysoukinthecity” has created a real place for exchange at short notice. For many donors today, the posts relayed on the networks by Diego El Glaoui, 152 thousand followers, in particular, hit the mark. “I saw her story and I went with my mom,” explains Ylana Zerbib, a student who experienced the disaster during her vacation in Marrakech.
The unexpected scale of the event also attracted curious people. While she saw the collection on her way home, a resident of the building opposite came back down with her arms full an hour later. “And there are other companies too who have contacted us. But we also try to direct them directly to the transporter so that we can unclog what we receive since we are only volunteers, only citizens,” adds Hasnaa Guessous. Touched by this initiative, the French company Joone Paris donated several boxes of hygiene products.
The earthquake, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than sixty years, devastated entire villages on Friday evening in a region southwest of Marrakech. On September 12, the death toll reached at least 2,901 dead and 5,530 injured. And in the midst of the ruins, the needs of the survivors are at least as great.