Morocco

Morocco Earthquake Response
The 6.8 earthquake in Morocco on September 8, 2023, completely destroyed or partially compromised many houses of inhabitants throughout the High Atlas Mountains and other regions.

Expected heavy rains in autumn and snowfall in winter added to the urgency in the delivery of aid that would protect life and livelihoods in many communities.

Our response during this first phase of the project included provision of:

1. Winterised transitional shelters and NFI distributions under the sector of Shelter/Non- Food Items (S/NFI),
2. Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS), and
3. Protection activities where necessary. By January we had entered into the second phase of the project which was focused on Build Back Safer (BBS) initiatives. From the 10 villages we had built transitional shelters, we identified 3 villages which would become the initial focus of our engagement. People whose houses had been affected by the earthquake were told by the government they would receive money to enable them to either rebuild or repair their houses, depending on the level of damaged sustained. For those who needed to completely rebuild their house from the foundation up, most of them were given technical drawings which they need to follow in order to receive the next portion of funding.

Our response during the second phase includes:

1. Contributing a portion of the foundational materials (including bags of cement, steel rebar, sand, gravel etc) to “top up” what they received from the government in order for them to have enough material to completely follow the government issued plans.
2. Regular visits to the villages and inspection of progress continues to be an important part of our strategy to ensure plans are understood and then being followed.
3. The production of earth blocks to use in place of the commonly used thin-walled cement bricks, made possible by the trailer portable machine we purchased which makes blocks out of compressed dirt.