People in Morocco slept in the streets of Marrakech for a third straight night as soldiers and international aid teams in trucks and helicopters began to fan into remote mountain towns hit hardest by a historic earthquake.

The disaster killed more than 2,100 people — a number that is expected to rise — and the United Nations estimated that 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake.

Amid offers from several countries, including the United States and France, Moroccan officials said Sunday that they are accepting international aid from just four countries: Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

“The Moroccan authorities have carefully assessed the needs on the ground, bearing in mind that a lack of coordination in such cases would be counterproductive,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

While some foreign search-and-rescue teams arrived on Sunday as an aftershock rattled Moroccans already in mourning and shock, other aid teams poised to deploy grew frustrated waiting for the government to officially request assistance.

“We know there is a great urgency to save people and dig under the remains of buildings,” said Arnaud Fraisse, founder of Rescuers Without Borders, who had a team stuck in Paris waiting for the green light. “There are people dying under the rubble, and we cannot do anything to save them.”

Help was slow to arrive in Amizmiz, where a whole chunk of the town of orange and red sandstone brick homes carved into a mountainside appeared to be missing. A mosque’s minaret had collapsed.

“It’s a catastrophe,’’ said villager Salah Ancheu, 28. “We don’t know what the future is. The aid remains insufficient.”
Residents swept rubble off the main road into town and people cheered when trucks full of soldiers arrived. But they pleaded for more help.
“There aren’t ambulances, there aren’t police, at least for right now,” Ancheu said, speaking about many parts of the region on Sunday morning.

Those left homeless — or fearing more aftershocks — slept outside Saturday, in the streets of the ancient city of Marrakech or under makeshift canopies in hard-hit Atlas Mountain towns like Moulay Brahim. Both there and in Amizmiz, residents worried most about the damage in hard-to-reach communities. The worst destruction was in rural communities that rely on unpaved roads that snake up the mountainous terrain covered by fallen rocks.

Those areas were shaken anew Sunday by a magnitude 3.9 aftershock, according to the US Geological Survey. It wasn’t immediately clear if it caused more damage or casualties, but it was likely strong enough to rattle nerves in areas where damage has left buildings unstable and residents feared aftershocks.

In a region where many build bricks out of mud, Friday’s earthquake toppled buildings not strong enough to withstand such a mighty temblor, trapping people in the rubble and sending others fleeing in terror. A total of 2,122 people were confirmed dead and at least 2,421 others were injured — 1,404 of them critically, the Interior Ministry reported.

Most of the dead — 1,351 — were in the Al Haouz district in the High Atlas Mountains, the ministry said.
Flags were lowered across Morocco, as King Mohammed VI ordered three days of national mourning starting Sunday. The army mobilized search and rescue teams, and the king ordered water, food rations and shelters to be sent to those who lost homes.

He also called for mosques to hold prayers Sunday for the victims, many of whom were buried Saturday amid the frenzy of rescue work nearby.

Though it said for the first time Sunday that it would accept aid from four countries, Morocco has not made an international appeal for help like Turkiye did in the hours following a massive quake earlier this year, according to aid groups.

Aid offers poured in from around the world, and the UN said it had a team in Morocco coordinating international support. About 100 teams made up of a total of 3,500 rescuers are registered with a UN platform and ready to deploy in Morocco when asked, Rescuers Without Borders said. Germany had a team of more than 50 rescuers waiting near Cologne-Bonn Airport but sent them home.

A Spanish search-and-rescue team arrived in Marrakech and headed to the rural Talat N’Yaaqoub, according to Spain’s Emergency Military Unit. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in a radio interview that Moroccan authorities asked for help. Another rescue team from Nice, France, also was on its way.

Officials in the Czech Republic earlier said the country was sending about 70 members of a rescue team trained in searching through rubble after receiving an official request from the Moroccan government. Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said three military planes were prepared to transport the team.

In France, which has many ties to Morocco and said four of its citizens died in the quake, towns and cities have offered more than 2 million euros ($2.1 million) in aid. Popular performers are collecting donations.

The epicenter of Friday’s quake was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech. The region is known for scenic villages and valleys tucked in the High Atlas Mountains.

Devastation gripped each town along the High Atlas’ steep and winding switchbacks, with homes folding in on themselves and people crying as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.

”I was asleep when the earthquake struck. I could not escape because the roof fell on me. I was trapped. I was saved by my neighbors who cleared the rubble with their bare hands,” said Fatna Bechar in Moulay Brahim. “Now, I am living with them in their house because mine was completely destroyed.”

There was little time for mourning as survivors tried to salvage anything from damaged homes.

Khadija Fairouje’s face was puffy from crying as she joined relatives and neighbors hauling possessions down rock-strewn streets. She had lost her daughter and three grandsons aged 4 to 11 when their home collapsed while they were sleeping less than 48 hours earlier.
“Nothing’s left. Everything fell,” said her sister, Hafida Fairouje.

The Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity was coordinating help for about 15,000 families in Al Haouz province, including food, medical aid, emergency housing and blankets, the state news agency MAP quoted the organization’s head, Youssef Rabouli, as saying after he visited the region.

Rescuers backed by soldiers and police searched collapsed homes in the remote town of Adassil, near the epicenter. Military vehicles brought in bulldozers and other equipment to clear roads, MAP reported. Ambulances took dozens of wounded from the village of Tikht, population 800, to Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech.

In Marrakech, large chunks were missing from a crenelated roof, and warped metal, crumbled concrete and dust were all that remained of a building cordoned off by police.

Tourists and residents lined up to give blood.

“I did not even think about it twice,” Jalila Guerina told The Associated Press, “especially in the conditions where people are dying, especially at this moment when they are needing help, any help.” She cited her duty as a Moroccan citizen.

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m., lasting several seconds, the USGS said. A magnitude 4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later, it said. The collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates occurred at a relatively shallow depth, which makes a quake more dangerous.

It was the strongest earthquake to hit the North African country in over 120 years, according to USGS records dating to 1900, but it was not the deadliest. In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 temblor struck near the city of Agadir, killing at least 12,000. That quake prompted Morocco to change construction rules, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such tremors.

In 2004, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake near the Mediterranean coastal city of Al Hoceima left more than 600 dead.

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A new report has revealed that a number of Middle Eastern countries are safer than the USA or many countries when it comes to travel.

The report – undertaken by Which? Travel – found that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the second safest country to travel to, second only to Iceland where only 36 people have been murdered since 2000.

Jordan was also found to have a lower risk of crime than France, Italy and the US, while Morocco has less crime and a lower risk of terrorism than most of Europe and the US.

The report gathered statistics from the World Economic Fund, the World Risk Report, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Fit for Travel website and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). It took into account crime rates, the likelihood of natural disasters, health risks and the threat of terrorism.

Ranking 20 holiday destinations by risk of violent crime, the UAE scored the same 6.6 index as Iceland, beating Spain, Australia and Canada. Morocco came in eighth place, with an index of 6.2 ahead of Jordan’s 5.8. Meanwhile the US languished in 15th place, only one position ahead of Mexico which is renowned for high levels of violent crime.

The UAE and Jordan also featured in the top 20 when measured by risk of natural disaster, with the UAE in third place and Jordan in 11th.

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Anger has erupted in Morocco after local media reported a 17-year-old girl was abducted, tortured and gang-raped by a criminal gang, whose members also forcibly tattooed her body.

Hundreds of Moroccans have signed a petition urging authorities to provide urgent medical and psychological care to a teenage girl who says she was gang-raped.

Khadija Okkarou, in a video posted online Tuesday, said she was abducted in mid-June outside the home of a relative in central Morocco by young men alleged to belong to a “dangerous gang”.

“They held me for about two months, and raped and tortured me,” the 17-year-old said, showing what appeared to be scars from cigarette burns and tattoos carved into parts of her body.

“I will never forgive them. They have destroyed me,” she said.

Her testimony has sparked anger in Morocco with social media users launching the “we are all Khadija” hashtag and a petition urging King Mohammed VI to provide her with medical and psychological care.

More than 3,400 people had signed the petition by Sunday night.

The girl’s father, Mohammed Okkarou, said three suspects had been arrested on Saturday in connection with her abduction and that a trial was set to begin on September 6.

Naima Ouahli, of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, told AFP that a total of 12 suspects had been rounded up.

Moroccan authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Sexual harassment is commonplace in Morocco, despite the adoption of a new constitution in 2011 that enshrines gender equality and urges the state to promote it.

And in January 2014, Morocco scrapped a controversial law that allowed child rapists to escape punishment if they marry their victims

Last year 1,600 cases of rape were heard by Moroccan courts, twice as many as previous years.

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An official Moroccan study has revealed that 29.5 per cent of households in the Kingdom are borrowing money to cover their daily expenses.

This was declared in a statement issued by the Moroccan High Commission for Planning (the official body responsible for statistics) during the second quarter of 2018.

The survey showed that 65.1 per cent of households consider that their income covers their expenditure while 29.5 per cent of households resorted to borrowing money in order to meet their needs. Another 5.4 per cent of families are saving some of their income.

The study pointed out that 37.5 per cent of households in Morocco believe that life standards have been “deteriorating” during the past year while 30.4 per cent considered these standards as “stable” and 32.1 per cent believe that they have already “improved”.

88.4 per cent of families stated that food prices have increased during the last 12 months.

74.7 per cent of households are expecting the number of unemployed people to rise within the next 12 months, compared to 13 per cent who are expecting the opposite. Other 54.9 per cent of households consider that it is not the appropriate time for purchasing expensive goods.

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A Mumbai lawyer has demanded Rs 87 lakh from Emirates airlines for the trauma he underwent after he found a cockroach in his in-flight meal. According to a report by The Mumbai Mirror, the lawyer has claimed that he was so disgusted at the sight of the insect in the food that he threw up a few times.

Yusuf Iqbal was flying first class from Casablanca in Morocco to Mumbai on February 27 when he discovered the insect in his salad. He was travelling with his wife and 18 other friends to celebrate his birthday.

According to a report by DNA, Iqbal also told the daily that the incident put him off flying and he later skipped a work-related engagement that required air travel. He missed out on anticipated professional fees of Rs 30 lakh, according to the legal notice to Emirates. “He has cited the loss of the potential fees, Rs 50 lakh for mental trauma, and Rs 7 lakh for his and wife’s first-class return tickets (Mumbai-Casablanca-Mumbai) in the compensation demand,” the report said.

Iqbal sent the legal notice last week after a “without prejudice or admission of liability” response from the airline “admitted” that it was a beetle and offered him 25,000 air miles “as a token of regret”.

He maintains he saw a cockroach in his chicken salad.In its response to the complaint, the airline’s customer affairs executive said, “The inspection of the beetle allegedly found in your salad shows it was a common seasonal beetle found in Morocco. But, finding out how it came aboard was difficult to pinpoint.”

It added, “The only explanation that is plausible, is that despite fumigation of the aircraft at Casablanca, the beetle somehow got in the aircraft whilst in Casablanca airport waiting for boarding, and was possible lurking somewhere in the galley area.”

Source – indiatimes

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Engineers in Morocco are preparing to test the Arab world’s first high-speed railway this week with trains reaching 320 km per hour, the country’s rail office ONCF said on Monday.

One train reached 275 km per hour on Monday along a stretch of track between the northern cities of Kenitra and Tangier, ONCF said.

“This is already the fastest train on the African continent,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was in Morocco to sign a loan deal between the ONCF and the French Development Agency.

He said the railway was “emblematic of the Franco-Moroccan bilateral relationship”.

The 350-km link between Casablanca and Tangiers via the capital Rabat will slash journey times between the North African country’s economic hubs by almost two thirds, to just over two hours.

Morocco’s TGV, which gets its name from the French abbreviation for high-speed trains, is set to enter service in summer 2018.

The project is 50 percent financed by France with loans of around $2.4bn.

It is set to go around 15 percent over budget, according to figures released on Monday.

But ONCF head Rabii Lakhlii said the project had cost “less than 9 million euros ($10.6m) per kilometre, compared to a European standard of 20 million euros per kilometre”.

The route, made more complex by hilly terrain and strong winds, required the building of several viaducts including one some 3.5 km long.

ONCF expects the line to attract six million travellers within its first three years.

Lakhlii said tickets would cost about 30 percent more than those for the current rail link.

Moroccan leaders have heralded the project as a key step in modernising the country’s infrastructure.

But opponents have criticised it, saying the money could have been better spent in a country where many live in poverty. They also argue that it unfairly favoured French companies.

Source – Muslim Village via MEMO

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The last Syrian refugees stranded on the Algerian-Moroccan border since 17 April have finally been admitted into Morocco following orders given by King Mohamed VI earlier this week.

“As of last night, the people were taken care of” and “the first medical care was given.” They will be heading towards the city of Oujda “so that the legal process related to the status of refugees can be applied, Director of Amnesty International Algeria, Hassina Oussedik, explained at a press conference yesterday alongside the vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH).

The 28 Syrian refugees entered Morocco after enduring harsh living conditions near the border town of Figuig.

“All Syrian refugees must be granted refugee status either in Morocco or in a third country. The UNHCR must do its job to find a solution for each person,”Oussedik said.

Yesterday, the refugee group met members of the Figuig and Bouarfa collective in support of the Syrian refugees who helped while they were stranded in the desert. They then travelled to Rabat where they were received at the headquarters of the National Council of Human Rights (CNDH).

Today, they will start registering with the Moroccan office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rabat. “UNHCR has proposed to the Moroccan government to take part in the care of these refugees and to find durable solutions for them,” Jean-Paul Cavaliéri, the UNHCR representative in Morocco, told HuffPost Morocco.

Refugees who already have family in Morocco will be able to be reunited with them whilst others are likely to join family members based in Europe. “We will work with the countries in question on the basis of the principle of family reunification,” Cavaliéri explained.

The UNHCR will set up its refugee assistance programme to accommodate the families whilst they are in Rabat.

“Since Morocco does not have a refugee camp, we have places for vulnerable people who need temporary accommodation,” the UN representative said.

The refugees have been stranded between Algeria and Morocco for the last couple of months after both countries refused to take them in following accusations the refugees were made to cross into each territory illegally.

The 28 Syrians were part of a group of 41 who arrived in mid-April in the buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria.

Some of them have since been smuggled into Morocco to stay with relatives whilst others have crossed the border to join the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

Algeria announced it would accept the refugees earlier this month but was refused access to them by Morocco. No explanation was given for this.

Source – MEMO

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Morocco has banned the import, production and sale of burqas.

Rabat authorities say they’re doing away with the full-face-covering garments worn by some Muslim women for security reasons.

Morocco’s interior minister will make an official announcement of the burqa ban that will take effect this week.
The official line is that bandits have repeatedly used the full-veil garments to perpetrate their crimes.

Awareness raising programmes are being launched to inform traders of the decision. They will be given 48-hours to liquidate their stock.

Most Moroccan women favour the hijab headscarf that doesn’t cover the face.

More conservative women prefer the niqab that leaves an area around the eyes uncovered.

The High Council of Ulemas, the country’s top religious authority, has yet to comment on the issue of banning full-face veils.

Source – EWN

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Custom agents found 19-year-old migrant from Gabon hidden in a suitcase pushed on a trolley by woman who tried to cross border from Morocco.

Madrid: Guards on the border of Ceuta, Spain’s enclave in North Africa, say they have recently detained one Moroccan suspected of attempting to smuggle migrants concealed in a suitcase and another suspected of hiding migrants in a car.

Custom agents found a 19-year-old migrant from Gabon hidden in a suitcase pushed on a trolley by a woman who tried to cross the land border from Morocco on December 30, said a spokesman for the Guardia Civil in Ceuta.
According to the spokesman, who spoke anonymously in accordance with the organisation’s rules, the 22-year-old Moroccan woman raised suspicions by trying to avoid security checks.

When officials asked her to open the luggage, they found the man curled up in the poorly ventilated space. Police said the man received immediate medical attention.

On Monday, border police found two more migrants hidden in false compartments built into a car arriving from Morocco.

The migrants, both from Guinea, were found when the vehicle was stopped for an inspection as it entered Ceuta. The 20-year-old man was found between the rear seats of the car and the trunk and the woman, 24, in a hidden bottom built into the dashboard, guards said.

The driver was a 30-year-old Moroccan national who allegedly forged the number plates of the vehicle, stolen two years ago in Barcelona, police said.

Thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants living illegally in Morocco try to get to Europe each year by sea, often in small craft unfit for open waters. Hundreds also risk their lives by climbing the 6-metre-tall barbed-wire fences surrounding Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other North African enclave.

On Sunday, around 1,100 African migrants stormed a border fence and attempted to enter Ceuta, leaving more than 50 Moroccan and Spanish border guards injured.

Source – Gulf news

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