2023-09-10 19:34:14
The most serious earthquake in Morocco in memory has left its marks all over Nadia’s body. With her face destroyed and her arms full of scratches, she cries for the wounds that cannot be seen with the naked eye: the death of her little six-year-old son Nadir, her sister-in-law and her father-in-law due to the earthquake that hit the region of Marrakech in the early hours of Friday.
«He is dead, my son is dead. “I have lost everything,” she repeats disconsolately. We are at the Mohamed VI university hospital, a place that houses a large part of those injured by the earthquake. The majority, like Nadia, have arrived from the completely destroyed towns that are about 70 kilometers away.
With Nadia is her mother, who mourns the death of her grandson, and her sister, who, lying down, cannot even get up from the pain of the improvised bed they have made around the hospital. They came by ambulance from Ouigane, the epicenter of the earthquake and where it has claimed the most lives. They have nothing left. His house is another of many that have become rubble and dust. Like her, all of her neighbors have been left without homes and those who are luckier do not have to mourn the death of a loved one.
More than half of the deaths were recorded in the provinces of Al Haouz (1,293) and Taroudant (452), two rural mountainous areas in the heart of the High Atlas, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Now they wait for his nephew Hassan (15 years old) to leave the hospital. He is being treated for a broken leg and deep injuries to his back. “But he’s alive,” says Nadia.
The situation was one of “collapse”, in the early hours of Saturday and all day yesterday, according to the doctors. Most of the injured had fractures and severe blows to the head, says Dr. Mohamed. They have been working tirelessly since the earthquake got them out of bed. “I didn’t think about anything other than coming to help,” Hanane, a second-year nursing student, tells us. She and her friend Fatima are volunteers and help in whatever way they can: “We draw blood, we clean wounds, if necessary we help people wash, whatever,” the young women say.
field hospital
Inside, in the emergency room, the situation is more serious. Stretchers for wounded people in every square meter of a small room, which normally acts as a waiting room for relatives but has been converted into a small field hospital. They don’t let us go any further, “but the situation is worse,” the nurses say. The wounded writhe on stretchers, they have been waiting for hours for a doctor to treat them.
However, the coming and going of ambulances has relaxed. “That’s because they are taking more people out of the ruins and they haven’t reached the city yet,” they tell us. The number of injured and dead is impossible to know as it increases by the moment.
The latest official figures increase to 2,000 people dead and another 2,059 injured.
What is most needed now is blood and since nine in the morning, in front of the Mohamed VI hospital, people have been lining up at a blood bank set up in less than 24 hours by volunteers from various humanitarian organizations. The solidarity of Moroccans is seen in every gesture: a family is in charge of distributing water to those waiting in line under a blazing sun. Another group of girls informs how the donation has to be carried out. «Yesterday I waited 4 hours and I couldn’t donate because they closed. But here I am again, whatever it takes for my brothers,” says Fouad. Like Fouad, many young people have come forward to donate blood. “The entire football team has done it and so have we,” they say. Yesterday, the Moroccan soccer team called for people to come to these blood banks and collaborate with the people most in need after the incident.
While waiting for Morocco to authorize foreign rescue teams to deploy in the most affected areas, Unicef in a statement announced that they are willing to “provide humanitarian assistance. “Our teams are already on the ground and are working closely with the Moroccan government to coordinate a response that meets the needs of children and their families.”
Little by little, aid is being organized, while the Moroccan army is mobilizing to try to remove the debris blocking access to the roads as quickly as possible and, therefore, help.
The World Health Organization has estimated that more than 300,000 people have been affected by the disaster and rescue teams are working around the clock to find survivors who may have been trapped under the rubble.
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