'Search and rescue teams are hoping they will find people alive in the wreckage'
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00:00 Now for a special edition on the aftermath of a massive earthquake that rocked Morocco
00:06 on Friday night. Traumatised locals suffered a magnitude 3.9 aftershock this Sunday as
00:12 the country marks its first of three days of mourning. Friday's magnitude 6.8 quake
00:18 killed more than 2,000 and injured more than 2,000. The United States says more than 300,000
00:24 people have been affected. Rescue teams are working through the scores of collapsed villages
00:29 in the Atlas Mountains. Many residents are sleeping outside and searching for signs of
00:33 their loved ones. Yet more are donating blood and helping each other in whatever way they
00:38 can. For more I can bring in Luke Schrago, our reporter who's on the ground in the city
00:43 of Marrakesh, which was near the quake's epicentre. Luke, I understand you're outside
00:48 a blood donation centre where the solidarity has been almost overwhelming.
00:55 That's exactly correct. We've been outside this blood donation centre that you can see
00:59 just behind me here, just outside the centre of Marrakesh, attached to University Hospital
01:05 Mohammed VI. Now you can see the street behind me. Earlier on this street was absolutely
01:11 full of people. The centre behind me, we spoke to staff here, it usually gets about 140 people
01:18 a day coming in to donate blood. Since Saturday they've had around 5,000 to 6,000 people.
01:25 It's been overwhelming. Mainly the people here calling it a spontaneous act and seeking
01:30 to try and help out however they can. There's not much they can do if they haven't been
01:34 directly affected by it, so they want to try and help as they can and have come down to
01:39 donate blood. They showed up on Saturday night, they were turned away because there were so
01:42 many and from 8 o'clock in the morning people came initially and started to wait. So much
01:47 so that staff have been pleading with people to try and stagger their arrivals. They say
01:52 that they still have ordinary uses for their blood, they just can't cope with the influx
01:57 of people with so many coming at the same time. They've urged them to come in on different
02:02 days to keep blood supplies flowing because they know that they are indeed going to be
02:06 needed. The hospital nearby as well, it's either cancelled or pushed back, non-essential
02:12 or non-critical operations with medical staff really preparing to deal with another influx
02:20 of victims or casualties as more isolated areas are finally reached by rescuers. And
02:27 Luke, as you traverse Marrakesh, what kind of level of destruction have you seen? Well,
02:35 there is some semblance of normal life starting again in Marrakesh. Certainly we saw that
02:41 on Sunday. The city has a certain level of damage. We've seen facades falling away from
02:47 the underlying masonry, piles of rubble that were in the streets on Saturday night and
02:51 Sunday morning. Those are being cleared up. And there have been certain collapses in terms
02:57 of houses. For example, the Old City, a world-famous UNESCO heritage site, those buildings are so
03:03 old that they're not designed to withstand such a major shock from such a powerful earthquake.
03:09 So a lot of people are still spending their time outside, sleeping outside. We've seen
03:14 them the last two nights because they're afraid to go back into buildings that could well
03:18 be unsafe, particularly with the threat of aftershocks leading to this tension, this
03:22 undercurrent of tension that's running through the city. Just this morning, there was another
03:26 aftershock that we felt. It was certainly light on the foot compared with what the whole
03:31 region has been through on Friday, but one that was felt nonetheless. And it just goes
03:35 to show that this danger is still omnipresent, that there is a danger there that people are
03:41 going to have to take into account. Now, with concerns of further collapses in the event
03:47 of any stronger aftershocks, there is an enormous amount of work to be done, not just in terms
03:51 of rescuing those survivors and getting people medical treatment, but in terms of surveying
03:57 the entire city and indeed much of the region for these buildings that may no longer be
04:01 safe.
04:02 All right. Luke Schrager reporting there for us in Marrakesh. Thank you very much.
04:07 And of course, that city is one of the cities and one of the areas of Morocco that we have
04:11 perhaps the most visibility on. But in other areas, I can bring in James André, our senior
04:17 reporter to talk about those more rural areas, perhaps closer to the epicenter that were
04:21 much more affected, weren't they?
04:23 Yes, absolutely. The epicenter is not actually in Marrakesh. It's 70 kilometers southwest
04:28 of the city in the mountains and basically underneath a pretty high mountain. So the
04:34 actual area is difficult to access. Now, of course, the Moroccan authorities have deployed
04:39 helicopters, have deployed all-terrain vehicles. And I'd say at this stage, probably there's
04:44 a pretty good assessment of what the situation is. But even this morning, for example, in
04:48 some villages, witnesses were saying that they had not seen anyone from any form of
04:53 support in their very own villages. So, yes, it's a very difficult situation to take care
04:59 of simply because roads are broken, bridges are down. These are, for some, very small
05:04 villages where buildings have very potentially collapsed. Or we've seen pictures of footage
05:09 of these collapsed buildings because they're not very strong buildings in the first place.
05:13 So you do have a potential, you know, still potential victims that are there and that
05:20 haven't been accounted for at this stage.
05:22 Yeah. And we can now have a look at how some survivors in those more remote areas are coping
05:28 with this report by Siobhan Silk.
05:33 The remnants of a family life, exposed in the ruins of homes near the epicentre of the
05:39 earthquake. This is a village in Mourning.
05:44 We were searching under the rubble and another resident came to help us. A whole family of
05:51 six people died in the earthquake. Everyone is afraid. Six people from one family. May
05:58 God have mercy on them.
06:02 Most of the confirmed deaths are in this mountainous region in the High Atlas Range. It's difficult
06:08 terrain. Soldiers have been deployed to help locals search the rubble. Much of the work
06:14 is being done manually. Search and rescue teams are hoping they'll find people alive
06:20 in the wreckage. But the death toll from this powerful quake is expected to rise.
06:27 Shell-shocked survivors have a difficult road ahead. Abdel Latif Aitbella was injured by
06:33 falling debris. He's his family's sole breadwinner.
06:40 If he's not working, it means we can't eat. But we have nowhere to cook. We can't go back
06:44 home because we're scared it'll collapse. The house fell completely.
06:50 I have two children, four and five years old, still young. He's the provider for the kids,
06:55 as well as for his mother and nephew.
06:59 The government is sending essential supplies, food, shelter and medicine to the earthquake
07:05 zones. That will help the survivors cope in the immediate aftermath of this disaster,
07:11 before they begin the long process of rebuilding their homes and their lives.
07:19 Residents of the coastal city of Agadir in particular were already traumatised by another
07:23 major earthquake in 1960, which killed more than 12,000 people. This prompted changes
07:29 in construction rules, but in practice many buildings, old and new, are not built to withstand
07:34 earthquakes. Carolyn Lamberley has more.
07:38 It's one of the top attractions for tourists visiting Marrakesh. Just a step away from
07:43 the Medina, and a number of historic mosques like this one.
07:49 This is how it looks now, its minaret reduced to rubble. A day after the quake hit, the
07:56 neighbourhood was unrecognisable. Crumbled buildings, collapsed walls, homes ripped wide
08:01 open. Buildings in the city are fragile and weren't built to sustain heavy shocks like
08:07 an earthquake.
08:09 "There's nothing linking the buildings together. They're separate blocks, like sugar cubes
08:16 placed one on top of the other. If you put a big dictionary or something very heavy on
08:20 top it'll hold, but if you shake it, or if the ground moves, it crumbles. You can see
08:26 it here very clearly. They're all separate units. Basically only the doors held up. Everything
08:32 fell apart. You can see all the stones and bricks piled up."
08:37 Marrakech's Metro first started applying anti-earthquake standards in the early 2000s.
08:41 "The problem is that these buildings were not built according to these regulations.
08:47 Whether it was people building their own homes, or if they hired craftsmen. And some of the
08:52 buildings went up before the regulations were introduced."
08:55 Now many are scared to go home, for fear what's left will collapse. Or that another earthquake
09:01 could hit again.
09:03 And to talk about the relief efforts, I'm joined by May Al-Sayegh, Head of Communications
09:08 for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Federation of the Red Cross
09:12 and Red Crescent Societies. Thanks very much for being with us. So your teams are on the
09:17 ground right now and were there almost in the immediate aftermath. What scenes have
09:21 they been witnessing?
09:22 "Good evening. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to highlight on the situation
09:29 in Morocco. Since the very beginning of this earthquake, the Moroccan Red Crescent teams
09:37 have been on the ground responding and supporting the local authorities in providing first aid,
09:45 medical support, providing water, food, and transportation for the injured to the hospitals
09:53 and psychosocial support. The capacity of this earthquake and its magnitude, it's very
10:02 big and the national society, despite its tremendous efforts on the ground and mobilizing
10:08 all its teams and volunteers, it still needs support from the international community.
10:15 And for this reason, now the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
10:22 movement is mobilizing all the national societies from all over the world to be able to support
10:28 the national society to respond very quickly. And because as you know, we have 72 hours,
10:35 it's critical, the window of having survivors, it will be closed soon. So we are in a race
10:42 of time and trying to help the Moroccan Red Crescent Society on the ground to save as
10:49 much survivors as they can."
10:51 "And very specifically then, what difficulties are they facing with the aftermath of this
10:56 earthquake?"
10:57 "Yeah, knowing that this area is a mountainous area and the roads were blocked and there
11:05 were a lot of, you know, from the disaster, there were a lot of landslides and this prohibited
11:13 the teams from reaching these remote areas. It's hard to reach areas. The area, it needs
11:20 a lot of equipment and, you know, mobility of all the teams on the ground. And as you
11:29 know, that there was no response, direct response on the ground because the teams there are
11:38 small in comparison to the scope of the earthquake. And nowadays, the Moroccan government is working
11:49 closely with all on the earth, on the ground and trying to reach those people in hard to
11:55 reach areas. As you know, there are electricity cutoffs. Also, one of the challenges, we lost
12:03 communication with our teams there. So a lot of challenges are facing the rescue and search
12:09 teams."
12:10 "Yeah, and being a nationally registered charity, the Moroccan Red Crescent was of course
12:15 able to immediately respond, releasing a million euros worth of disaster relief funding. But
12:20 there are other international charities, I understand, that can't intervene because the
12:23 government hasn't requested their specific help. Is that right?"
12:28 "Yes, from the very first moment, the IFRC had released from its disaster emergency fund
12:36 a one million Swiss francs to help the Moroccan Red Crescent. And all national societies from
12:42 all over the world are happy and they express their interest to support their national society
12:53 because you know, as the federation, we have 191 national societies. We work as a family.
12:59 So when a crisis hits, all national societies from all over the world, they gather together
13:04 and try to support the affected national society. And so far, the Moroccan government hasn't
13:11 requested any international assistance. But we as a federation, we are trying to do our
13:18 best to support the Moroccan Red Crescent and make them receive all the equipments and
13:24 make their operations ongoing. This amount of money, it's small in comparison to the
13:29 magnitude of the crisis on the ground, but it's the beginning. And it depends on the
13:35 request from the Moroccan government if there will be an appeal to help the affected people
13:41 in this earthquake.
13:42 And would it actually help your teams if Morocco were to, as it were, open the floodgates to
13:48 international aid? Would that be of help to the Moroccan Red Crescent on the ground?
13:56 The Moroccan Red Crescent, they were working closely from the very first day with the local
14:02 authorities there. Of course, it would have helped much better because as we know, there
14:08 is 72 hours. That is very critical. To save lives, you have to be in a race of time. So
14:14 we are calling for the Moroccan government to be more flexible and accept the assistance
14:20 from all over the world. But at the end of the day, it's a state of the, it's a decision
14:24 for the government. And we as a humanitarian organization, our duty is to help people in
14:30 need and not to oppose anything. If they need our help, we are ready to support and we are
14:36 there from all over the world. All our national societies are ready to support them. But we
14:41 respect government and we respect their will. And diplomatically, we hope that this will
14:47 move very soon.
14:50 May Al-Sayegh there from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
14:56 Societies. Thank you very much for your time.
14:59 Now France's President Emmanuel Macron says France is ready to deploy assistance joining
15:03 countries and organizations who around the world have offered assistance. But so far
15:09 only Spain and Qatar have been allowed to help sending between them around about 150
15:14 rescuers. Some locals are angry at the government for not green lighting more outside help.
15:20 And to talk a bit more about this, I'm joined again by James Andre. So in terms of this
15:28 green lighting that Morocco needs to do for different countries to actually provide aid,
15:33 is this would you say that this is is hampering relief efforts or is there only so much you
15:38 can do at once?
15:39 Well, the thing is, I think it's it's always difficult because it's a catastrophe obviously
15:44 that takes place and in the hours just following it, it can be very complicated to have too
15:49 many actors just arriving with different ideas, different ways of working different means.
15:54 You do not want to have as it has happened in other places, you know, too much aid arriving
16:00 a overwhelmed airport, too many planes landing, etc., etc. So this could be one of the reasons
16:05 why for now, indeed, the the Moroccans have not been asking for more international help.
16:11 Now, you did say indeed that there's been help from Qatar, from Spain that sends 56
16:18 members of an emergency military unit to Morocco. Also, there's been help from Tunisia and Jordan.
16:25 And as well as and this is something quite important, because this when you start entering
16:28 the diplomatic diplomatic part of this situation, which is Algeria's open airspace, as you know,
16:35 both countries are very much in geopolitical conflict over the the Sahara, the Western
16:43 Sahara. So, yes, this opening is something which is important, of course. Now, for now,
16:48 indeed, Morocco has not asked France to intervene, though France says it is ready to do so. This
16:53 is what Emmanuel Macron had to say this morning at the G20.
16:57 We have mobilized all the technical and security teams to be able to intervene when the Moroccan
17:03 authorities deem it useful. And in any case, we are on hand. There have been discussions
17:10 at ministerial level. And this morning, we have mobilized the World Bank, the IMF, the
17:17 EU and the AU to, together with France, show strong support for Morocco, for the Moroccan
17:22 people, for construction and financial aid in this context.
17:30 So indeed, yes, Morocco has not asked officially for any help from France. That is, if you
17:35 take the case of France. But across the world, it's about 100 organizations that have stepped
17:40 up saying they want to send help to Morocco, very few of which have had green lights. And
17:44 you can cite one of them, which is, for example, the French protection civile that does not
17:48 actually, is not part of the French government or is not linked with the French government.
17:52 It's an NGO, a non-government organization, as its name states. Well, they've not been
17:57 allowed to send the people that they had ready.
18:00 Now, when it comes to France itself, also, of course, there is organization, but maybe
18:04 also there is diplomacy in the sense that France and Morocco right now are in a bit
18:10 of a conflict. There is no Moroccan ambassador to France since February. Basically, he was
18:17 pulled unofficially. They didn't cut diplomatic ties, but simply the ambassador has been called
18:23 back and not replaced following a vote in the European Parliament that was widely considered
18:27 by the Moroccan government as being driven by France that condemned the government, the
18:33 Moroccan government on human rights grounds.
18:36 So yes, of course, probably, you know, Spain has been invited quite quickly right now.
18:41 Relations are good. France, not for the moment. So we'll have to see what happens.
18:45 And if we talk about a little bit about the economic or potential economic fallout of
18:49 the earthquake, do we have a picture starting to emerge there? I know that, for instance,
18:53 at the moment, Morocco is in tourist high season.
18:56 Yes. Well, there's the tourist problem. I mean, I'd say there are two things. There's
19:01 basically I'd say the grand roux economy. If you like, what's going to happen now is
19:05 that there are the 72 hours that the guest from the Red Cross was telling us about. That
19:13 is obviously trying to save as many people as possible and pull them from the rubble.
19:17 This is when you need to lift stones, send dogs to find people, etc., etc.
19:21 But then the second thing is that people have lost their houses. They've lost everything.
19:25 They've lost their livelihoods. And now they're basically on the street with nothing. So you
19:30 have this longer period where you have to take care of these families that are out.
19:34 Atlas Mountains are quite high, so some of them actually might get cold. So it's very
19:38 important to offer relief straight away to these people who've lost everything and lost
19:42 their livelihood. So that's the second step.
19:45 And then, of course, yes, you're right. It is the touristic high season. And this year,
19:49 Morocco is expected to receive 13 million tourists. And of course, Marrakech, being
19:54 one of the imperial cities, is a tourist powerhouse. And well, of course, what is going to happen
20:01 for all these tourists who are booked? Yes, we are in the post-summer period where weather
20:06 is still very pleasant and is very pleasant for quite a long time in Morocco and Marrakech.
20:13 So question mark, will these reservations not be cancelled? Will tourists come? This
20:18 is starting to worry some of the operators on the ground. And some of them are actually
20:21 seeking to kind of minimize the situation in Marrakech in order to not scare tourists
20:26 off. So that's pretty much the situation. There could be heavy losses for the tourism
20:31 industry as well.
20:32 All right, senior reporter James Zondre, thank you very much for your insights. Now, many
20:37 are unaccounted for and many are homeless. Some residents of Marrakech spent their second
20:42 night outdoors, afraid to return to their damaged buildings. Brian Quinn has more.
20:46 The streets of Marrakech, a refuge of last resort for city residents. Thousands spent
20:55 Saturday night outdoors, getting what little sleep they could, too afraid to return to
21:00 quick damaged homes.
21:02 I returned to my house and noticed many cracks in the walls. I can't sleep there. I'm asking
21:07 the authorities to help me bring in an expert to assess whether it's possible for me to
21:11 return to the house or not.
21:15 Marrakech's ancient Medina, strewn with rubble. Its iconic Jemaa al-Fna square now a vast
21:21 open air camp. The damage is unevenly spread. The minaret of this mosque on the square's
21:27 edge collapsed, while nearby a restaurant remains open. The Medina's winding alleyways,
21:35 a gauntlet of stones and downed wires. Citizens fear aftershocks could cause further collapse
21:41 among the tightly packed structures.
21:44 Look where all these people are sleeping. There is no help for us. Our houses are cracked.
21:51 Others like my daughter's house, totally destroyed. It's chaos.
21:56 But as bad as the damage is here, the situation is yet more dire for villages near the quake's
22:04 epicenter in the high Atlas mountains, where blocked roads are hampering rescue and recovery
22:10 efforts in the hardest hit and most remote areas.
22:15 That's all for this special edition. Stay tuned, there's much more world news coming
22:19 up on France 24.
22:20 [music]