Rabat – Latifa Yaakoubi, the General Director of the National Agency for the Development of Oasis Zones and Argan Trees (ANDZOA), recently visited Morocco’s Tata province to assess the damage caused by recent severe weather and flooding.
The visit took place over the weekend and was part of the implementation of Royal Instructions aimed at establishing a rehabilitation program for areas affected by flooding in the southeast of the country.
During her visit, Yaakoubi observed significant damage in several oases, particularly in Igmir, Anamer Smougen, and Aguerd within the Tamanart municipality, as well as in the Akka oasis of the Kasbat Sidi Abdellah Ben M’barek municipality. Also damaged were the Kasbat oasis in Tissint, and Akka Iguern in Akka Ighane, among others in the Tata, Tigzmert, and Adis communes.
Yaakoubi gathered information on the extent of the destruction caused by the floods and aimed to broaden the assessment to include other affected communes. This will help establish an emergency intervention program for ANDZOA.
The agency has already allocated a budget of MAD 20 million from its own resources to fund an emergency program. This initiative will focus on cleaning waterways and oases of debris resulting from the floods, as well as rehabilitating the drinking water network through the repair of damaged wells.
During her visit, meetings were held with local municipal heads and representatives of civil society. The mission concluded with a working session with the governor of Tata Province, where various measures to mitigate the effects of this natural disaster were discussed.
The recent devastating floods, caused by heavy rain, claimed the lives of at least 18 people in the region, with the majority of casualties reported in Tata.
This came less than a month after another wave of floods that affected other provinces in the region – mainly Ouarzazate and Tinghir – killing at least 11 people while many others remain missing.
