We, Maghrebian immigration, human rights and international solidarity organizations, are deeply saddened by the scale of this tragedy, and offer our condolences to the Moroccan people and to all the bereaved families.
Morocco’s history is punctuated by earthquakes: among the deadliest were those in Agadir (February 29, 1960) and Al-Hoceima (February 24, 2004), in the south and north of the country respectively.
On maps drawn up by scientists, listing and cataloguing areas affected by geodynamic movements across the globe, Morocco is on a line of convergence of tectonic plates, notably the African and Eurasian plates, leaving it dangerously exposed to such potentially devastating movements as the one we have just witnessed, which struck the High Atlas, not far from Marrakech.
So the question was not whether another earthquake would strike Morocco, but when. In addition to the late introduction of seismic regulations in 2002, the effective extension of these standards to all regions of the country, particularly rural areas, has not yet taken place, which explains the apocalyptic images of villages completely devastated.
This earthquake has once again demonstrated the absence of a policy on the part of the Moroccan public authorities to serve local populations in these disadvantaged regions.
Faced with this tragedy that has struck the Moroccan people, both national and international solidarity is being organized. Endless queues have spontaneously formed around transfusion centers to donate blood. Many other initiatives to collect donations and essential materials are being taken all over the world.
We, Maghrebian immigration, human rights and international solidarity organizations, join the Moroccan people in mourning and fully endorse this surge of solidarity, by working in the short term and in the medium and long term, in consultation with Maghrebian civil societies, on inter-Maghreb solidarity projects of exchange and support.
Our full solidarity with the families of the victims.
For a Maghreb of united peoples.
Our sincere condolences to all the bereaved families, and our best wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.
We call on the Moroccan authorities :
– to assume all their responsibilities and do everything in their power to come to the urgent aid of the stricken families and help them bury their dead with dignity;
– to send rescue services to all affected areas, and in particular to isolated villages and douars;
– rehabilitate the entire disaster area;
– facilitate the work, transport and access of support organizations to the affected areas;
– to ensure that all affected families have fair access to aid, and to block the way to aid grabbing, as was the case during the last earthquake in 2004 in Al Hoceima;
– implement a major national reconstruction, consolidation and rehabilitation plan, based on world-renowned earthquake-resistant standards;
– to open up neglected and marginalized regions, by providing them with infrastructure (roads, hospitals, schools, connections to drinking water and electricity networks, etc.).
Paris, September 11, 2023.
Signatory organizations
– Agir pour le changement et la démocratie en Algérie (Act for Change and Democracy in Algeria) (ACDA)
– Association de défense des droits de l’Homme au Maroc (Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Morocco) (ASDHOM)
– Association démocratique des Tunisiens en France (Democratic Association of Tunisians in France) (ADTF)
– Association des familles des prisonniers et disparus sahraouis (Association of Families of Sahrawi Prisoners and Disappeared) (AFAPREDESA)
– Association Khamsa solidaire ici et ailleurs (Khamsha Association in Solidarity here and there)
– Association des Marocains en France (Association of Moroccans in France) (AMF)
– Association des travailleurs maghrébins en France (Association of Maghrebi Workers in France) (ATMF)
– Association N’aoura-Bruxelles (Belgique) (N’aoura Association) (Belgium)
– Centre euro-méditerranéen migration et développement Emcemo (Pays-Bas) (Euro-Mediterranean Center for Migration and Development Emcemo) (Netherlands)
– Collectif 3C (3c Collective)
– Comité pour le respect des libertés et des droits de l’homme en Tunisie (Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia) (CRLDHT)
– Confédération générale des travailleurs de Mauritanie (General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers) (CGTM)
– Fédération des Tunisiens citoyens des deux rive (Federation of Tunisian Citizens from Both Shores) (FTCR)
– Femmes plurielles (Plural Women)
– Institut Mehdi Ben Barka – Mémoire vivante (Mehdi Ben Barka Institute - Living Memory)
– Ligue algérienne de défense des droits de l’Homme (Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights) (LADDH)
– Réseau euro-méditerranéen citoyenneté et culture (Euro-Mediterranean Network for Citizenship and Culture) (REMCC)
– Riposte internationale (International Strike Back)
– Solidarité médicale Algérie (Medical Solidarity Algeria) (Solidem)
– SOS Migrants-Bruxelles (SOS Migrants-Brussels)
– Union des travailleurs immigrés tunisiens (Union of Tunisian Immigrant Workers) (UTIT)