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The earthquake which struck the Atlas Mountain region southwest of Marrakech on September 8 was unusual in both its strength (6.8 magnitude) and location.
Some tectonic plate fault lines in the world run close to major metropolitan areas and are well known to seismologists, like the Hayward Fault zone that runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault across California.
The 2011 undersea earthquake (9.0 magnitude) in Japan is considered the fourth most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world. Nearly 20,000 people perished. Fault zones move and slip when they decide. Sometimes these movements can be predicted, sometimes not.
What occurred on September 8th was unique. As the journal Science noted in a September 12th feature, “Because the region is only moderately active, really big earthquakes are rare, happening only once every few hundred years. Unfortunately, seismological records do not go back far enough to say how big earthquakes in this region can get … Instead of a localized region with a high risk of tremors, a large area [within Morocco] has a low but still significant risk.”
This seismic debate is of little interest to those thousands of Moroccans who perished, their loved ones and the tens of thousands left homeless. Though international attention on the quake has subsided, millions of dollars have been made available to Morocco for relief and recovery, from the IMF to countless GoFundMe campaigns to a stream of ad hoc relief convoys heading south, operated by Moroccans themselves.
Recovery is coming to an end and rebuilding is beginning. Morocco’s central Bank (BAM) established a “special earthquake fund” to serve as a repository for donations – $973 million and growing in direct aid, credit lines and loan guarantees.
Going forward, Moroccans will have to decide on which type of relief best matches a particular village’s unique circumstance(s). The so-called “shrink smart” concept is part of the American economic development lexicon. It is worth visiting in Morocco, too.
Although still early in the process, some tentative observations are worth noting nearly one month on from the quake.
Knowing the scale of the event
The earthquake occurred late in the evening on September 8. Across a remote mountainous region, it was a challenge to ascertain the scale and exact parameter of the quake. Initial photos and footage showed several alley ways in the old medina of Marrakech cluttered with collapsed walls and debris, creating an impression that parts of Marrakech had been devastated.
Though damaged, Marrakech —a UNESCO World Heritage site— fared reasonably well. Remote villages, however, did not fare as well, and the first priority for local leaders was rescue and recovery, not disaster assessment.
First reports can be misleading. In August 2005, first reports indicated Hurricane Katrina’s massive storm surge had been held back by the complex levee system at New Orleans. Several levees were eventually breached by the second day and entire neighborhoods were submerged.
Accepting needed assistance
Within 48 hours, Morocco accepted assistance from Spain (86 emergency personnel and eight sniffer dogs). Britain, the UAE, and Qatar had also deployed teams.
Disaster diplomacy is popular in an age of social media and 24-hour news cycles but it is not an effective program to provide relief services to very remote areas of affected regions, much of which (in Morocco’s case) are accessible only with the guidance of local resources who know how to get from point A to point B.
Yes, those first few nights included scores of Moroccans sleeping in parks under the open sky — standard practice in the immediate aftermath of a large quake, as large buildings need to be assessed before being utilized as relief centers.
Once tents and mobile housing resources were available to the affected region, the challenge was to deploy them quickly. Airlift capabilities become critically important when single lane mountainous routes become impassable.
This is where military airlifts and, yes, local donkeys become the best examples of what works. Rapid regional communication was critical, too.
Best practices
Mobile aid is best. A medical services convoy visited the Azilal province last week, providing medical and relief aid for victims. The convoy was organized by the Moulay Slimane University in Beni Mellal and the Moroccan Association of Medical Sciences (Morocco’s version of the AMA).
Full service medical convoys bring a range of medical and relief services to affected areas without the need for established brick-and-mortar infrastructure. Morocco would do well to further enhance this multidisciplinary multi-agency ad hoc capability as the population of some small remote villages likely contracts.
Learning from African Lion
The yearly African Lion military exercises create a template for mobile medical relief. The U.S. Africa Command’s largest regional annual exercise is hosted by Morocco. In 2021, more than 7,000 participants from nine nations and NATO trained together with a focus on enhancing readiness.
The exercise also established a Military Medical Surgical Field Hospital (informally known as a MASH unit) to serve Moroccan children from nearby villages. Best practices are shared by Moroccan and Allied physicians as well as joint logistical operations staff. These recurring clinical mobile hospitals are a local favorite in the southern Souss-Massa region.
The lessons of the 1960 Agadir earthquake (5.8 magnitude) may be relevant to the events of September 2023.
Agadir was a built-up modern city, rapidly on its way to competing with Tanger as a prime coastal destination when it was mostly destroyed. The September 8th quake was an intimate disaster, affecting dozens of local mountain villages.
Agadir could be rebuilt, relocated slightly, reinforced —physically and economically— as a nod to Morocco’s future. Many of these Atlas villages, some deeply ingrained in the soul of Morocco, can be rebuilt to celebrate a past that may be fading but is no less important.
