Big Quake in Morocco
 

Mag 7 Earthquake in Morocco just now!

Terribly sorry to hear this news and my thoughts are with those affected. Early measurements indicate the quake was between 6.8 and 7.0 on the Richter Scale, so at least ten times bigger than the 5.9 quake that destroyed Agadir in 1960, with more than 30 times the energy release.

The large loss of life (15,000 dead) in Agadir was due to the collapse of very basic housing constructed on softer ground. Building techniques have improved in the 60 years since then, nevertheless the death toll from yesterday's quake is already at 820 and looks likely to exceed 1,000.

Al Hoceima on the Mediterranean coast has also suffered major Richter 6.0+ earthquakes, in 1994 and again in 2004. Since then smaller quakes have been happening on a fairly regular basis in the Alboran Sea off the coast of Al Hoceima—with three minor quakes in the last 24 hours—but this is regarded as positive as these small shifts allow pressures to be released gently,

And I remember there was a 4.4 quake in Zaouiat Ahansal in the Ait Bougmez valley twelve years back.

____________________________________________

Earlier this morning the Ministry of the Interior updated the death toll to 820, almost half of which (394) are in the province of Al Haouz which was the epicentre of the quake. Al Haouz province lies to the immediate south of Marrakech and stretches from Amizmiz in the west, through the Test pass, Moulay Brahim, Imlil, Oukaimden, Ourika and the Tichka pass in the east.

271 deaths have been reported in the province of Taroudant, 91 in the province of Chichaoua (west of Marrakech), 31 in the province of Ouarzazate, 13 in the prefecture of Marrakech, 11 in the province of Azilal, 5 in the prefecture of Agadir, 3 in Greater Casablanca and 1 death in the province of Youssoufia (north of Marrakech).

A terrible tragedy. Hope every HUBB-er out in Morocco is safe!

Big call for blood donors in Marrakech of anyone can help.

We are speaking with local medical contacts in case any further assistance is required

Overlanding West Africa and Morocco has quite a number of members in the affected regions and the moment along with regular updates as the situation develops.

The British Moroccan Society has so far raised £29,000 in aid within a few hours, https://www.gofundme.com/f/british-m...thquake-appeal
but of course can use more!

The villages alongside the Tizi n Test R203 have taken the brunt of it, as shown in Moulay Brahim just before Asni, a village with lots of tajineries where the river comes right alongside the 203 and focussed on by the media.
Google currently shows the epicentre 45km to the WSW of Moulay and the Test col is currently cut off.
If you know this road you'll recall up top on both sides of the col narrow sections are just a good storm away from a landslide, let alone a nearby earthquake.
I also read that in much bigger Asni (turn off for Imlil and Toubkal; but maybe the greater region) 90% of the houses are demolished, and in Ijoukak (last place before the col) 200 houses destroyed.
Just found this vid from Ijk shot on Saturday; 'the nearest town to the epicentre':
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/af...e_6054686.html

I'm told the Tichka N9 to the east is open and undamaged.

The Test was blocked by landslides in 3 places yesterday but work was underway to clear so emergency services can get in. The road to Oukamedan is similar.

Tinmal Mosque has been extensively damaged

The whole area in now closed with only military or emergency service access.

Ambulances Marrakesh have a campaign raising money to buy blankets

Just a sad, sad event to happen to such wonderful people, and such a beautiful Country.


Been to those parts many times, beggars believe that you could lose your whole family and house overnight when you didn't have much in the first place.


I hope this doesn't break forum rules;
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appea...thquake-appeal


Safe travels!

I presume all the paparazzi clustered at Moulay Brahim have buggered off to Lybia.

Does anyone know the extent of damage around Taraoudant,Ouazarzate and Telouet?

I just heard from a guy from Agouim, nearer than Telourt, and his place is undamaged.
Taroudant and Ouarzazate don't really know. I think more damage in the former town but nothing like the ruined villages along the R203.

How morbid of me to put a Like on such a sad post. News from the South side has been so sparse.Even MWN Today appears not to have been there to report :(

Graphics seem to show the force propagated northward which may explain why there is little to report from south of the watershed. But Taroudant does seem to be on that southern arm.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cp...y_2x640-nc.png

Peter Buitelaar was in the mountains when the quake happened but I think perhaps nearer the Tessaout valley. His house in Ouarzazate is pisé ground floor with a steel shell supporting the two upper stories. "On the outside, except for some cracks, our house looked fairly undamaged but inside we discovered such destruction that we decided to move back into the mountains. Safer in our roof tent."

Taroudannt was affected by the quake but the biggest issue now is that it’s being used as a base for the emergency operations.

Ouazazate wasn’t affected significantly from what we’ve seen and heard from reliable sources.

Over the weekend we will cross the Atlas to Marrakech to the east of the affected area.

Lots of people talking of cancelling trips but Morocco is asking people not to cancel.

Reports of scam Gofundme etc campaigns are coming in. Shame people see events like this as an opportunity to earn money

The largest aftershock so far has been a tremor measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale which occurred near Amizmiz. Richter is a base-10 logarithmic scale, so the original 7.0 earthquake was over 150 times bigger than this aftershock and released almost 2,000 times the energy.

Nevertheless, even minor aftershocks are dangerous when they occur in areas already severely damaged as they can bring down already unstable buildings which is what happened in Amizmiz (I don't know whether this aftershock was noticed in Marrakech, but it was felt in Merzouga).

The government believes 50,000 homes have been damaged in the earthquake and has announced households will receive an emergency grant of 30,000 dh. In addition direct financial aid of 140,000 dh will be provided for fully collapsed homes and 80,000 dh for partially collapsed. The government has stressed the reconstruction will respect the region's architectural heritage.

Amongst the badly damaged buildings are five of the six of the boarding houses built by Education For All, a charity which provides schooling for girls in the remote rural mountain areas. The charity was started by Mike McHugo of Kasbah Toubkal who was honoured with a British award for his charitable work.


Damage to the boarding houses

Major advances have been made in the last couple of decades with 25,000 km of new asphalt roads replacing dirt roads, with electricity available almost everywhere, and with 'town water' supplies replacing hand-dug wells, nevertheless not all villages are completely served, and King Mohammed VI has called for a comprehensive program to strengthen infrastructure and public services in the affected regions.

The British Moroccan Society fundraiser target has now been lifted to £250,000 and donations currently stand at £128,000,

So you know what the money is being spent on, the text below is based on a report from a couple of days ago on the BMS Facebook page.

_______________________________________________

"1. We continue to support the Travel Link Foundation and Assafou Association who are very efficient at volume distribution sending trucks deep into the effected area. The vehicle in the picture contains more than a thousand blankets supplied by the BMS on Wednesday.

2. We continue to distribute directly to villages where we have longstanding relationships. This involves a lot of research and coordination, the villagers are typically walking round trips of eight hours or more to meet us. The appendix below gives more detail.

3. Our motorbike team have had good successes taking small quantities of the most critical items into forward areas. We have been asked for picks and shovels so that the survivors can start to clear roads by hand. It was deeply moving to realise that a shortage of fabric for shrouds in some villages is adding to the distress of grieving families.

4. A water filtration engineer has joined our team. He brought four professional filtration systems and the photograph shows the first being installed today in a substantial field kitchen that is being built in Ouirgane.

5. Sourcing supplies is critical at this stage. Key items like power banks, torches, tents and tarpaulins are sold out in Marrakech. We are grateful to Sophie Martin (wife of the British Ambassador to Morocco), who with a group of other ambassadors wives scoured Rabat to buy a van load of precious items which we will be distributing as you read this. The photo shows Sophie at the British Ambassador’s residence handing these over to Mina Metoui.

6. Encouraged by your support we have the scale and ambition to look seriously at sourcing products Internationally. We have been working hard on that and there are some promising things in development.
In this context we are raising our immediate fundraising target to £250,000 Together we are making a very real difference, please continue to help by sharing this fund raiser as widely as you possibly can.

With love to you all, from Marrakech, Mike Wood, Chairman

Appendix. On Tuesday Ella Williams took a transit van and two cars up to Talat n’Yakoub with essential food including: oil, milk, sugar, tea, coffee, rice, canned fish, cheese, washing powder, soap, sanitary pads and flour. The convoy arrived to Tassouakte village in the evening and from there the food was sorted and distributed to families in Tassouakte, Ighil, Tasghdimt, Tafrghost and Ahachi.

[Note: Ighil is named as the epicentre of the quake]

A local man on the ground went on foot to six of the surrounding villages and made a list of the number of surviving families in need of aid in each of the seven villages. These are some of the hardest to reach villages in Talat n’Yakoub as they are far from the road and can’t be reached by vehicle.

The locals of Ighil, Tasghdimt, Tafrghost and Ahachi came down to Tassouakte this morning to collect the food: Tassouakte – 9 families; Tasghdimt – 9 families; Tafrghost – 18 families; Aharchi - 8 families; Ighil – 25 families.

We are returning on Thursday morning to bring food to: Taos – 25 families; Timizar - 18 families
In addition, we will be bringing blankets, tarpaulins, ropes, sleeping mats, solar powered lights, power banks, torches, soap, baby clothing and underwear to these 7 villages tomorrow.

I'm still planning of going in November.

Is there a way to be able to contribute during my trip, apart from usual spending?

Any tips about how to know if a road I was planning on going on, is still safe enough or in a decent condition, to travel?

I agree not to cancel trips, especially if you are putting money directly into local village economies.
The worst affected area is relatively small in relation to the vastness of Morocco (I would estimate the three darkest shades of red on the quake intensity map above). By November the R203 Test road may well be open to all traffic, even if there is devastation to either side.
Pistes off the northern R203, who knows. Ask locally or find out for yourself. Few explore west of the 203 as roads are dead ends to now ruined villages. The two High Atlas crossings SE of Ijoukak (off road alternatives to the Test pass), like the steep MH20 crossing to Ouneine valley may well have collapsed and be a low priority. MH21 going SE connects remote mountain villages and will be more important for access and a bit less prone to terminal landslides.
Anything south or east of this area – the MH6 Aoulouz-Agouim axis – will be less affected.
I think much depends on the style of building. After a week I just heard from a gite we use a mile out of Ijoukak where it’s said half the population have been killed and most are now homeless. Amazingly his building, built in the last 10-20 years, survived with just big cracks and a few holes. I wonder if it is the difference between walls of cement and stone rather than river mud.
I remember reading that in Karakoram traditional stone and timber village houses were built in a certain way to handle the regular tremors. There would be little historical precedent for that in the High Atlas where, until recently, the mud walls of Tin Mel have stood for nearly 900 years.

Question to
 

Chris Scott, Tim Cullis, TheWarden, Creer and all/any other Morocco aficionadoes:
I would like to know if any/some/all/more/etc of you are organising a convoy to deliver supplies?
thanks

We’ve been spreading word about some reputable ways to donate money and also had a number of offers for 4x4 support vehicles come forward through the Overlanding West Africa and Morocco group on Facebook. The word here is the donations of food clothing etc is exceeding demand and at the moment they have enough food to distribute.

The Test is open again now. Yesterday we were in Ouarazazate and today crossed the Atlas on the Tichka to Marrakech. We haven’t seen any signs of significant damage along the way, in fact everything looked very normal. Common message is for travellers to keep coming and not cancel trips

Need to clarify my post
 

@ The Warden - you misunderstood my question-
It was not about 'spreading the word' or 'increasing awareness' but actually if any of you (or others) were actually organising etc.
News channels still report a continuing need for tents/equipment/food etc especially due to winter coming.

Not really possible to organise an aid convoy from Europe as I’ve been in Morocco for some time and you need government approval to do so and enter the affected area.

My earlier wasn’t just about spreading awareness but rather what we have been doing via other platforms. We were asked if we had any 4x4’s available to transport emergency crews and did what we could to find some. Unfortunately it’s early in the season so those who came forward would have taken days to reach Morocco, too late for the requirements. Our members also donated quite a bit of money to help.

Not many overland groups or forums doing anything to help, which is a shame.

Marrakech was quickly emptied of useful stuff like tents and blankets, and then supplies were brought in from further away in Morocco such as Casablanca and Rabat. It's clear that more supplies are needed and they will have to come from Spain, France, UK, whatever.

The people on the ground know what's needed and know what's already on its way. Anything not available in country will be sourced internationally so what's required is the funds to pay for the gear.

Right now the night time temperatures are fortunately clement but shelters will need to be built for the winter. Feeding everyone appears to be working OK, see text below...

________________________________________

I've written before about the charitable work carried out by the non-for-profit Henna Cafe (not to be confused with the copycat named Henna Art Cafe). Henna Cafe predominantly serves vegetarian food and the profits from that and also the henna tattoos was reinvested in educational classes for women and children in one of the rooms of the cafe.



During the pandemic the Henna Cafe turned itself into a 'soup kitchen' feeding the poor and needy whose income sources had dried up and by January 2022 had served 50,000 (!!) meals. Meal ingredients were chosen by a nutritionist to provide about 1,000 calories and they cost 5dh each. Once the pandemic receded and things returned to something like normality the cafe continued creating between 40 and 100 meals a day for the homeless, mentally ill and elderly.

Now it has swung into action once more. Aftershocks made the cafe potentially dangerous to use so everyone has relocated to the World Storytelling Cafe near Riad Star. Initially 300 meals per day were being prepared but they were asked to increase this to 500 as the hospitals have no food (as with Spain, relatives are supposed to feed patients), and relatives are either dead or still in the mountains. Two professional chefs travelled from Casablanca to help out, with now two kitchens up and running, the second being in the devastated village of Ouirgane. Canadian group Globalmedic brought over water filter systems and they are now installed in the mountains to provide clean drinking water.

Sunday the combined kitchens provided over 900 meals, and this number is expected to grow as more refugees from the mountains find their way to Marrakech.

I met Lucie Andersen Wood, the prime organiser of all this, in London when she visited at the end of July, and expressed my gratitude at everything she and her fantastic team of volunteers and staff had done during the pandemic. Little did either of us know what was around the corner. But volunteering is in her blood as Mike, her husband, is chairman of the British Moroccan Society.

What can YOU do to help? Please consider donating to the fundraising.

If donating is not your thing, but you ARE going to be visiting Marrakech in the months and years to come, please come and have a meal at the Henna Cafe (Facebook page). The food is great (there ARE some meat dishes) and all profits are ploughed back to the community.

I've not yet visited the World Storytelling Cafe but that could be another interesting place.

Some of us are. We were approached by a Moroccan charitable organisation and have ten 4x4s leaving on Friday carrying supplies they've specified - tents, blankets, clothing. And another group two weeks later.

Good to hear,

My comment was aimed groups and forums for travellers rather than businesses. All my current and upcoming customers are donating or bringing needed supplies.

Open Source Mapping support
 

I picked up a call to help with the mapping of the affected areas from the Open Mapping Hub for West and North Africa. If you are an Open Street Mapper, you can add in the details from satelite images to the OSM maps to help the relief teams make sense of what is on the ground. There are many villages that are not shown on the maps, as are some mountain roads.[https://tasks.hotosm.org/organisatio...orthern-africa

There is a damaged roads project (expert mappers only) which is plotting the obstructions. https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/15504

That's brilliant and will be a big help for everyone, not just during the relief efforts.

I'm not currently a mapper but really should be as I often drive unmapped tracks

Update from the British Moroccan Society Earthquake Appeal

The first phase of responding to this natural disaster is behind us now. As the attention of the worlds media moves on it is clear that we face a long and hard winter ahead with the region still experiencing aftershocks.

Your continued support is hugely appreciated as we concentrate on the basics of food, clean water, shelter and warm clothes.

1. The BMS and our friends at Heston Lions Club (special thanks to Jatinder Kaur ) and the SWAT Club (Nishkam SWAT) have held a hugely successful collection of tents, clothes and other essential items in the London. Two forty foot containers are leaving today and our Marrakech team are preparing to receive and distribute those items.

2. We continue to send targeted supplies to villages that have asked for them. These are greatly appreciated. See appendix.

3. We have been working with BMS member Lin Ducker, who is a nutritionist, to design a balanced family parcel, comprising local staple foods. We are delivering one hundred of these today to remote villages that have not yet received food aid. We will further refine the parcel as we get feedback. See appendix for more detail.

4. We installed water filtration for a community kitchen in Oulad Berhil, an hour north of Taroudant, that will serve over 30,000 meals each day.

While appreciating the real need for support in the earthquake zone, it is helpful to have a nuanced understanding of the situation of the ground as life in Marrakech has largely returned to normal. The IMF / World bank has confirmed that its annual general meeting will go ahead here from the 12th October, tourists are welcome, in fact they are essential.

Thank you again for your support, together we are making a real difference. Every donation helps, just £11.20 will pay for a family food hamper.

Mike Wood, Chair

__________________

Appendix

BMS support today has instilled great peace amongst the families who have received the wooden slats today. The weather is changing and there was great unease with fears of rain storms causing mudslides and affecting the stability of the tents.

Caloric value of the BMS family hamper which we are trialling:
5kg flour 18,200
1 lt vegetable oil 828
1 kg cooked lentils 1,760
1 kg cookwhite beans 1,390
1 kg fave beans 1,710
2 kg sugar 3,870
120g condensed tomatoes 36 cal
250g sardines/tomato sauce 652 cal
Total 28,446 calories

Todays wholesale cost per hamper 141 dirhams / £11.20

Earth Quake Aid
 

4WD Sprinter and 5 other 4x4's heading into Morocco on Monday, carrying what we can. John Horne also has some requirements that need support.

We are taking beanie's/gloves/tents/blankets plus school stationary for the next phase

I rode up the Tizi n Test road today. If it wasn’t for the increasingly larger tent encampments as you head south into the hills, you’d think the damage was just the result of a big storm – viewed from the roadside at least. The broken up section of the R203 south of Ouirgane felt especially rough, maybe from masses of truck traffic.
Even as far as Ijoukak you might miss the damage if you’d not been here before. But just just 2km up the road Talat Ait Yacoub where the fuel station is, looked like it had been bombed. Quite shocking. The fuel is still serving in front of the collapsed garage building and there’s an army camp alongside.
I had a chat with Housseine at the nearby auberge we use. All along his side road tents are crammed in by the stream or on plots wherever there is flat space. His gite is largely intact (mostly fallen plaster) but they can’t rebuild until a govt inspector views and approves a payout. As it is he tells me there is a shortage of cement. He described the motion of the original quake as circular rather than to and fro, and even last night there were small aftershocks. So like many people, his family still sleep in a tent in their car park.
I rode over the top to Igli, taking a quick look at the direct track over to Ouneine.
Updated MH20/21 page: https://sahara-overland.com/2018/04/...ew-route-mh20/
As expected, just 50m from the t/o for the steep north side ascent two big boulders + rubble would block a car; a bike might get over the rubble until the next blockage, or the one after that. This is a low priority track that passes no villages, just a mast near the pass. All these places are around 20km from the epicentre.
Carrying on east via the bypass to the Ouneine-Igli road junction, van sized boulders have fallen on to the road with more encampments round the many small villages, some at 2000m (pic). And yet still the kids play and wave! But perhaps because these remote places were served by convoys of relief vehicles, the track to the junction is in unusually good condition and passable with anything.
Now at the new auberge in Tazolt (north of Askaoun), and even this building, 90 track kms from Ijk, has big cracks on the upper floors, but only a couple of tents visible in this village. So pistes that serve villages will be cleared and maybe even improved, tracks that don’t may be left for another time.

Added: A few days later came up the Test R203 from the south junction.
Stopped at a new CP about 8km in, don't know if just from boredom/'because they could'.
Had I said I was going to Marrakech I'm sure they'd had let me through.
I soon took a piste eastwards.

I've not been along the test this autumn, but we were around Askaoun last weekend and had more of a walk around Marrakech at the weekend. More damage arounds the souks than I had seen earlier in September. The tents in the villages were a stark reminder of a hard winter to come.

From what I hear the need now is for building materials and construction equipment rather than clothing/food etc which has been flooding in.

Don't think its been mentioned here yet, but any aid being brought into Morocco needs permission from the government obtained by a local Association. The Association then needs to send the completed paperwork to the carriers.