Morocco could ask for aid following quake in central region

The UN said on September 15 that Morocco could ask for aid very soon following a deadly earthquake that killed approximately 2,900 people, according to the AFP, September 15.

The 6.8 magnitude quake also demolished around 50,000 houses in what was the most chaotic natural disaster seen in the North African country in 120 years.

Several countries have offered to assist Morocco. Also the country has allowed search and rescue teams from the United Kingdom, Spain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to come to its assistance.

Morocco has notably refused assistance from the United States and France, who ruled over the country until Morocco’s independence in 1955.

READ:France waits for formal request to aid Morocco

President Macron was under fire from a French MP from the centre-right Les Republicains party for allegedly sabotaging the two countries’ relationship.

In late August 2023, a member of the Assemble Nationale (France’s parliament), Michele Tabarot, said that she resented the French President for sacrificing the country’s relationship with Morocco in an attempt to pander to Algeria’s government.

Martin Griffiths, a British diplomat who serves as the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs at the UN, told the press in the Swiss city, Geneva, “We are expecting and hoping, but expecting from our discussions with the Moroccan authorities that the request for assistance will go out within today or tomorrow.”.

On September 14, Morocco announced that an aid program had started in order to support and rehouse those whose homes have been destroyed as well as calling from immediate aid of 30,000 Moroccan Dirhams (around 2,732 Euros) for those affected.

Griffiths,72, added, “It is only in the recent day or so that in Morocco, the shift has been from finding survivors to helping survivors to survive. And that’s when aid is of the highest importance.”.

Mr. Griffiths also called for urgent aid to be given to Libya as the country’s eastern city, Derna, was a victim of flooding, as a result of two dams collapsing, leaving the city and country more generally in a desperate state. 20,000 are feared dead and thousands more are missing.

AFP

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