By Jamal Boubakri
By Jamal Boubakri
Morocco World News
Washington D.C, October31, 2012
Almost two hundred thousand Moroccans live in the United States. The East Coast happens to be the most preferred region in the US for most of them. Its dynamic and populated cities have attracted many ethnic groups for centuries. The Moroccan community in the East Coast is mostly present in the nation’s capital metropolitan area, Washington, D.C and in the most populated state in the East Coast, New York. Also, in the North East, Boston is home to several thousands of Moroccan nationals.
Hurricane Sandy, affected millions of people across the East Coast, including the Moroccan community. 15 US states and the District of Colombia have declared a state of emergency since Sunday evening. As Sandy made landfall in the East Coast, over 8 million residents lost power, New York’s subway system was shut down for at least 2 days, wall street’s New York Stock Exchange closed its doors for physical trading for two days, thousands of flight to or from the East Coast were cancelled and hundreds of thousands of travelers got stuck at connecting airports across the country.
On Monday and Tuesday, the federal government closed its institutions in all states affected by the super storm Sandy. President Obama suspended his election campaign trail for 3 days and he is visiting New Jersey today to tour the state that was hit the most by Sandy. It was reported earlier today that the devastating storm’s death toll have risen to at least 50 in the US, knowing that the storm killed 67 people in the Caribbean.
As everyone else int the East Coast, the Moroccan Community was monitoring Sandy very closely on television. As soon as they lost power, the only means of communication left was social media on their smart phones, especially Facebook and Twitter.
“When we lost power, the only thing I had is exchanging Facebook messages and tweets with my friends here in the U.S. and Morocco,” said Abdou, a student from College Park, Maryland.
Sandy was one of the most devastating hurricanes in U.S. history. Officials are still assessing the damage caused by strong winds and floods across the East Coast. The cost of this storm is estimated to exceed $20 billion. Although, the Moroccan community in the East Coast is a part of the American society that was hit hard by this super storm, causing serious damage to millions, it has survived the storm unharmed.
