By: Yana Patel
In Morocco, earthquakes are a very frequent natural hazard. A 6.8 to 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Morocco on September 8, 2023, at about 11 p.m. local time. The epicenter of the earthquake, according to CPD, was located in the High Atlas Mountains, not far from the village of Adasill, in the Al Haouz Province, 44 miles southwest of Marrakech. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 115 kilometers. The nation’s center has not yet been struck by an earthquake stronger than this one.
According to CNN, the earthquake struck not far from Marrakech, a well-known tourist destination and major commercial center. More than 3,000 people were killed and several others were injured as a result of this earthquake. Numerous nations have offered aid, but as reported by the New York Times, Morocco’s administration has been sluggish in permitting foreign humanitarian organizations and medical teams to enter the country. To locate individuals who were trapped by the earthquake, search and rescue teams have been working in the disaster area. These earthquakes have resulted in an ongoing rise in fatalities.
Residents who lived in areas with mud-brick buildings that lacked a solid foundation have since collapsed due to the earthquake. Turkey and Syria both experienced similar circumstances. Buildings in each of these countries collapsed because of insufficient infrastructure, as was highlighted in a previous Port Light article titled Earthquake Devastation in Turkey and Syria Leads Back to Inadequate Infrastructure. Due to the structure’s collapse from their foundations due to the use of flimsy materials, this indirectly resembles Morocco’s situation.
So how has Morocco handled this catastrophe? Due to the large number of toppling structures, Moroccan authorities have dispatched military and civilian teams to: search for survivors, clean the debris, and offer emergency accommodation, according to the New York Times. Many Moroccans believe the government’s response was dangerously ineffective and wasted crucial time, and they have criticized it as such. This shows the government’s responses, or lack thereof, to a specific event or situation. The criticism in this instance focuses on the idea that the government’s response was ineffective in resolving the problem. Additionally, it targets the idea that valuable time was lost as a result of what these people perceive to be insufficient government actions, rather than being used to lessen the problem or provide assistance.
Morocco received little foreign aid, as previously indicated by the article. Why did the nation act in this way? Due to the difficulty in getting supplies to areas that were severely affected by the earthquake, international relief was severely constrained. According to CNN, these places were difficult to reach because they were located in mountainous portions of the nation. As this article was being written, Morocco is still trying to recover from the effect of the earthquake.