Morocco's High Atlas Mountains Celebrate One Year Since Record Earthquake

Imi Ntala, Morocco —

The rescuers and passersby have long since left, but the remains of homes still line the rough roads.

A year after nearly 3,000 people were killed when a record-breaking earthquake struck communities across Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains, it still feels as if a bomb had just exploded in villages like Imi N’Tala, where dozens of residents died after part of the mountainside cracked and destroyed most of the buildings.

Broken bricks, bent iron rods and pieces of kitchen flooring are still there, but they are piled neatly next to the plastic tents where the displaced now live. Some are waiting for money to rebuild their homes. Others are waiting for their plans to be approved.

The quake-hit area is dotted with poor farming villages like Emi Ntala, accessible only by rough, unpaved roads. Associated Press reporters visited half a dozen of them last week ahead of the quake’s first anniversary.

In some places, residents who say they are waiting for government intervention have begun rebuilding buildings on a temporary basis. In other places, people tired of plastic tents have returned to their dilapidated homes or moved to big cities, abandoning their old lives.

People walk and drive past buildings affected by the 2023 earthquake, in the town of Amizmiz, outside Marrakech, Morocco, September 4, 2024.

Streets in towns such as Amizmiz and Moulay Brahim have been carefully cleared, although cracked buildings and piles of rubble remain, just as they were in the days after the earthquake.

Life has returned to some normal in some of the region’s major cities, with efforts underway to rebuild roads, homes, schools and businesses, and some residents being provided with metal container homes. But many displaced people from more than 55,000 homes destroyed by the quake are still exposed to the summer heat and winter cold, living in plastic tents, eager to return.

Tents set up by victims of the 2023 earthquake, in the town of Amizmiz, outside Marrakech, Morocco, September 4, 2024.

Mohammed Somar, a 69-year-old retiree who lost his son in last year’s earthquake, is angry that local authorities have prevented him from rebuilding his home on the same mountain slope due to safety concerns. He now spends his days with his wife in a plastic tent near his now-destroyed home and is afraid to move and restart his life in a larger, more expensive area.

“The residents want to stay here because they have land where they grow vegetables to make a living, and if they go somewhere else and leave this place they will not be able to live there,” he added.

The government initially promised to provide families with monthly subsidies in the wake of the quake, as well as additional funds for earthquake-safe reconstruction. It said last week that the money had been provided to the majority of eligible families and households.

“Specific solutions are being deployed on the ground for difficult cases,” the Moroccan prime minister's office said in a statement.

But on the ground, the distribution of aid has been uneven, residents say, with many still waiting to receive money or begin rebuilding.

Anger has been building against local authorities in towns like Amizmiz and villages like Tlat Nyakuub, where residents have protested their living conditions. They have criticised the slow pace of reconstruction and demanded more investment in social services and infrastructure, which have long been neglected in contrast to Morocco’s urban centres and coasts.

Officials said the rebuilding would cost 120 billion dirhams ($12 billion) and take about five years. The government has rebuilt some sections of rural roads, health centers and schools, but the committee in charge of the rebuilding acknowledged last week that some homes needed to be rebuilt faster.

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