The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Morocco has risen to over a thousand, and 1,200 injuries have been counted so far. The victims mainly occurred in the Atlas Mountains south of Marrakech. Brabanders of Moroccan descent sympathize en masse. Many have family and friends in the affected area and are deeply concerned and devastated by the disaster that occurred around midnight on Friday.
The Moroccan flag will fly at half-mast at the Den Bosch town hall on Saturday. It is a market in the city center, many people shuffle along the stalls for fresh vegetables or cheese. But Amina Haiba stands still, looks at the waving flag and her thoughts are on her homeland.
“I am moved by it,” she says, “it is nice to see that the Dutch also sympathize. That touches me.” Amina has a lot of family in Morocco. “Fortunately, nothing happened to my brother and sister, who live in Casablanca. They slept on the street with their families last night. The fear was great.”
When Fahd Bouchti (39) from Den Bosch woke up in the morning, he heard how the natural disaster has left a large part of his home country in ruins. “I immediately tried to contact my father, who is there at the moment,” he says. “He is 400 kilometers away from Marrakech. But it didn’t work, I couldn’t get a connection.”
The epicenter of the magnitude 7.2 quake was about 70 kilometers southwest of the city of Marrakech.
Fortunately, Fahd’s mother, who is in the Netherlands, had already spoken to his father and knew that he was unharmed. The earthquake was clearly felt. “He was just sleeping when the whole house started shaking. He then ran outside with the others. Some had children in their arms, the panic was great,” says Fahd.
The resident of Den Bosch is very shocked. “Early this morning I saw the death toll at 600. Then you know that that number will rise considerably when the emergency services start searching under the rubble.”
It was also an intense night for Achmed Erassan of the Arrahma Mosque in Den Bosch. “My brother-in-law is currently on holiday in Morocco,” he says. “Luckily he is unhurt, but what happened there is terrible. My phone is not on silent,” he says. “How many people are still under the rubble? Can people still be saved? It is a disastrous disaster.”
The board of the mosque, together with 26 other mosques in Brabant and Zeeland, is looking at what they can do to provide help to the affected area and the victims. Achmed expects to have a clear idea of how they will do this on Sunday evening or Monday. “We are thinking about a fundraising campaign, but first we want to determine exactly what is needed,” he says.
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