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Rabat — King Mohammed VI launched today the construction of an emergency stockpile and first aid platform in Sale.
The platform will be located in Sale – specifically in the Ameur commune – and reflects Morocco’s resilience and capacity to respond rapidly to disasters.Â
This addition is just one part of larger royal directives to create major stockpiles and first aid platforms across the country. The program aims to strengthen Morocco’s emergency infrastructure, improve crisis response capabilities, speed up aid delivery, and boost the country’s resilience against various crises.
The initiative reserves and provides tents, blankets, beds, medicine and food products, as well as other vital items in order to respond immediately to disasters, including floods, earthquakes, as well as chemical, industrial, or radiological hazards.
The Rabat-Sale-Kenitra platform will be built with a budget of MAD 287.5 million and span 20 hectares. Construction will finish within 12 months.
The facility will include four 5,000-square-meter warehouses, two 2,500-square-meter shelters for oversized equipment, a heliport, and parking areas.
The national program will span over 240 hectares in total and has plans to create 36 warehouses distributed accordingly to each region’s population density and risk profile.
The six most populated regions — Casablanca-Settat, Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, Marrakech-Safi, Fez-Meknes, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, and Souss-Massa — will each have platforms with four warehouses totaling 20,000 square meters.
The six other regions will have platforms with two warehouses totaling 10,000 square meters each.
These facilities will store supplies to provide a quick response for disaster victims, covering rescue, aid, and care needs according to the King’s proactive vision.
The stored supplies and equipment include 200,000 multipurpose tents with associated equipment like camp beds, mattresses, and blankets.
Read also: Report : Al Haouz Earthquake Shook the Nation’s Sense of Preparedness
The emergency facility will also have mobile bakeries and kitchens, food kits for affected families, as well as water purification equipment and portable electricity generators.
As a larger part of thorough disaster preparedness, the regional platforms will have specialized rescue equipment for floods, earthquakes, landslides, and chemical hazards. Authorities will also provide mobile medical facilities, including 12 field hospitals – one for each region – with 50 beds each, advanced medical posts, and emergency medicine reserves.
The regional platforms, located according to safety criteria, were designed based on a thorough analysis of each region’s needs and risks, supported by studies of international best practices and standards.
This crucial initiative comes at a time when Morocco is taking their disaster preparedness more seriously, since the North African country was shaken both physically and mentally by the disaster of the Al Haouz earthquake in September 2023.
The strategic program will provide reserves capable of meeting three times the needs that arose after the devastating natural disaster, and it will lead to the development of a national ecosystem for producing equipment for immediate response when necessary.
