2023-09-11 00:49:02
Editorial by Alexandra Schwartzbrod
While the death toll from the deadly earthquake of Friday, September 8 continues to increase, the question of relief is essential. However, the management of the disaster by the kingdom remains opaque.
The earthquake that shook Morocco on Friday, September 8 is a tragedy whose aftershocks, in the figurative sense of the term, have not finished being felt. The tremors, which were felt in every corner of the country, were so strong that many, traumatized, continued to sleep outside for fear that the earth would shake again. As the epicenter of the earthquake was located in mountainous areas that were difficult to access, help was struggling to arrive and the affected populations were crying out in distress. It is not impossible that the balance sheet climbs further over the discoveries of villages or hamlets razed from the map.
As we know, in such circumstances, the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours are crucial to saving lives. However, Morocco, on Sunday, thirty-six hours after the tragedy, had only officially requested help from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and especially Spain, a country of which it is particularly close by geography but also by political ties, Madrid having recently buried the hatchet with Rabat over the recognition of Western Sahara. Did the kingdom want to take its time to avoid a mess in humanitarian aid as it was accused of after the Al-Hoceima earthquake in 2004? Was he overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task, especially since the king was absent when the tragedy occurred? Or did he deliberately choose to delay those with whom he is in diplomatic coldness like France? For now, these questions can legitimately be asked.
Fortunately, solidarity is working in full force, “the culture of solidarity is in the DNA of all Moroccans,” director Nabil Ayouch told us on Saturday from Casablanca. In almost every town in the kingdom, collection points for basic necessities or blood donations were quickly set up. Personalities – sportsmen, comedians, comedians – immediately gave their support, sometimes financially. Even Algeria, a lifelong enemy, spontaneously opened its airspace to facilitate relief. But sooner or later, the hour of reckoning will come, with its share of those responsible to blame, on the slowness of the delivery of relief or on the seismic standards that are poorly respected in certain places.
#solidarity #calls #Libération