Frustration mounts with Morocco earthquake aid yet to reach some survivors; toll rises to 2,901

Fatima Boujdig, an earthquake survivor, shows her wounds in Tafeghaghte, a remote village of the High Atlas mountains. (Reuters)
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Updated 12 September 2023
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Frustration mounts with Morocco earthquake aid yet to reach some survivors; toll rises to 2,901

  • It was the North African country’s deadliest earthquake since 1960 and its most powerful in more than a century
  • Rescuers from Spain, Britain and Qatar were helping Morocco’s search teams

TALAT N’YAAQOUB, Morocco: Many survivors of Morocco’s earthquake struggled in makeshift shelters on Tuesday after a fourth night in the open, while villagers in devastated mountain areas voiced frustration at having received no help from the authorities.
The death toll from the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck in the High Atlas Mountains late on Friday evening rose to 2,901, while the number of people injured more than doubled to 5,530, state television reported.
It was the North African country’s deadliest earthquake since 1960 and its most powerful in more than a century.
Rescuers from Spain, Britain and Qatar were helping Morocco’s search teams, while Italy, Belgium, France and Germany said their offers of assistance had yet to be approved.
The situation was most desperate for people in remote areas cut off by landslides triggered by the earthquake that blocked access roads, while in accessible locations relief efforts were stepping up with tent camps and distribution of food and water.
Mehdi Ait Bouyali, 24, was camping along the Tizi n’Test road, which connects remote valleys to the historic city of Marrakech, with a few other survivors who had also fled their destroyed villages. He said the group had received food and blankets from people driving by but nothing from the state.
“The villages of the valley have been forgotten. We need any kind of help. We need tents,” he said, criticizing the government’s relief efforts.
Hamid Ait Bouyali, 40, was also camping on the roadside.
“The authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages that are worst affected,” he said. “There are some villages that still have the dead buried under the rubble.”
Hopes of finding survivors were fading, not least because many traditional mud brick houses that are common in the High Atlas crumbled to earthen rubble without leaving air pockets.
Many villagers have had no power or telephone network since the earthquake struck and have had to rescue loved ones and pull out dead bodies buried from under their crushed homes without any assistance.
Ordinary citizens were also helping, like Brahim Daldali, 36, from Marrakech, who was using a motorbike to distribute food, water, clothes and blankets donated by friends and strangers.
“They have nothing and the people are starving,” he said.
Residents of one village, Kettou, demolished by the quake luckily all survived thanks to a wedding celebration for which they had left their stone and mud-brick homes to enjoy traditional music in an outdoor courtyard.

Some aid offered but no taken
In Amizmiz, a large village at the foot of the mountains that has turned into an aid hub, some people made homeless by the quake had been provided with yellow tents by the authorities, but others were still sheltering under blankets.
“I am so scared. What will we do if it rains?” said Noureddine Bo Ikerouane, a carpenter, who was camping with his wife, mother-in-law and two sons, one of whom is autistic, in an improvised tent fashioned from blankets.
The epicenter of the quake was about 72 km (45 miles) southwest of Marrakech, where some historical buildings in the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were damaged.
More modern parts of Marrakech largely escaped unscathed, including a site near the airport earmarked for IMF and World Bank meetings due to be held next month.
More than 10,000 people were expected at the meetings, which the government wants to go ahead, sources said.
The state news agency said King Mohammed visited a hospital in Marrakech to check on the injured and donated blood.
Morocco has accepted offers of aid from Spain, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, but has not taken up offers of help from Italy, Belgium, France and Germany.
Germany said on Monday it did not think the decision was political, but Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taji told radio station Rtl on Tuesday that Morocco had chosen to receive aid only from countries with which it had close relations.
Caroline Holt, global director of operations at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which launched an emergency appeal on Tuesday for quake victims, defended Morocco’s decisions.
“We know that this is extremely complex, accessing these hard-to-reach areas. The needs are still evolving,” she said. “I think that the Moroccan government is taking careful steps with regards to opening up, accepting bilateral offers of support.”
Others voiced frustration at not being allowed in to help.
Arnaud Fraisse of Secouristes Sans Frontieres (Rescuers Without Borders), a French NGO, said it had offered the Moroccan embassy in Paris a team of nine who were ready to go but no response had come from Rabat.
“Now, four days later, it is too late to leave because we are here to work urgently, to save people under the rubble, not to discover corpses,” he said. “This breaks our hearts.”


UN to bolster UNIFIL for post-truce support in Lebanon, peacekeeping chief says

Updated 6 sec ago
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UN to bolster UNIFIL for post-truce support in Lebanon, peacekeeping chief says

“I think that has to be very clear. Implementing the 1701 is the responsibility of the parties,” said Lacroix
Lacroix said the peacekeeping mission would work with the Lebanese army to “support the implementation of a settlement

BEIRUT: The United Nations intends to bolster its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon to better support the Lebanese army once a truce is agreed but would not directly enforce a ceasefire, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Thursday.
The peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the demarcation line with Israel, an area that has seen more than a year of hostilities between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have centered on UN resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between the two heavily-armed foes in 2006 and requires Hezbollah to remove fighters and weapons from areas between the border and the Litani River, which runs about 30 km (around 20 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border.
Israel has for years accused UNIFIL of failing to implement the resolution, and now says peacekeepers must get out of the way as Israeli troops fight Hezbollah. UNIFIL troops have refused to leave their posts, despite repeated Israeli attacks that have wounded peacekeepers.
“I think that has to be very clear. Implementing the 1701 is the responsibility of the parties,” said Lacroix, speaking to reporters on a three-day visit to Lebanon. “UNIFIL has a supportive role, and there is a lot of substance in that supporting role.”
Lacroix said the peacekeeping mission would work with the Lebanese army to “support the implementation of a settlement” and was already in discussions with contributing nations to assess UNIFIL’s needs, including with advanced technology, without necessarily increasing troop numbers.
Following a truce, UNIFIL’s capacities could be expanded to include clearing explosive devices and reopening roads.
“We don’t necessarily think in terms of numbers, we think in terms of what would be the needs and how could they be fulfilled,” he said.
Lacroix said the UN and several member states have repeatedly called on all parties to ensure the safety of peacekeepers and that while incidents had not stopped, they had not increased following international condemnation.

The United Nations intends to bolster its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon to better support the Lebanese army once a truce is agreed but would not directly enforce a ceasefire, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Thursday. (AFP/File)

Lebanon says at least three killed in Israeli strike on Baalbek

Updated 14 November 2024
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Lebanon says at least three killed in Israeli strike on Baalbek

  • A ministry statement said body parts were recovered from the site

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said at least three people were killed in an Israeli strike Thursday on the main eastern city of Baalbek.
“The Israeli enemy strike... in Baalbek killed three people, in an initial toll,” a ministry statement said, adding that “body parts were recovered from the site and their identities are being verified.”


Cafe in Libya champions recycling and sustainability

Updated 14 November 2024
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Cafe in Libya champions recycling and sustainability

  • Lamma, which means “gathering” or “hangout” in Arabic, has become a cultural hub for locals and other visitors
  • Its central mission, its owner said, is raising awareness of an eco-friendly lifestyle in Libya

TRIPOLI: In Libya’s capital, a cafe’s sleek exterior gives little hint of the vibrant space inside, built entirely from recycled materials to promote sustainability in a country recovering from years of war.
Lamma, which means “gathering” or “hangout” in Arabic, has become a cultural hub for locals and other visitors, featuring an art gallery that showcases Libyan artists, and hosts events and workshops.
But its central mission, its owner said, is raising awareness of an eco-friendly lifestyle in Libya, where green initiatives are scarce as people grapple with the aftermath of a gruelling conflict.
“We use materials that were abandoned in the streets, such as rubber from tires, wood from trees and construction waste” to build the cafe, said Louay Omran Burwais, an architect who designed and founded Lamma.
“The idea is to show people that what is thrown in the street and may seem ugly or useless is actually still valuable,” he told AFP.
Libya was hurled into war after a NATO-backed uprising led to the overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, followed by years of fighting between militias, mercenaries and jihadists.
Power remains split between a UN-recognized government and a rival authority in the east.
Behind the long, narrow door into Lamma, visitors are greeted with a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes.
The plant-covered walls contrast with a web of suspended metal scraps, alcoves and slide tunnels that children swoop down through.
“There are no places like this in Libya,” said Roula Ajjawi, Lamma’s art director. “We base everything on one aspect that we consider very important: recycling.”
Families gather at Lamma on Thursdays, the start of the Libyan weekend, when the cafe holds art workshops for children.
Others borrow books from the venue’s small library.
Burwais says his team hopes recycling and other eco-friendly practices, which remain rare, start up in Libya, which currently has no recycling facilities.
Visitors to Lamma will recognize familiar everyday objects repurposed throughout the space, Burwais said, but they will “start seeing them differently. We are here to foster a new mindset.”
In Libya, the plastic, metal, and glass left from over a decade of civil war destruction are rarely, if ever, reused or recycled, Ajjawi said.
More often, they are abandoned in nature and on the streets, occasionally washed into the Mediterranean by rain and wind.
But with initiatives like Lamma, objects once destined for the landfill are transformed into works of art — a concept now catching on with locals.
“I love this place,” said Riyad Youssef, now a Lamma regular. “The food is great, the service is excellent, and I appreciate the commitment to reducing waste. Every idea here is amazing.”


Turkiye probes event spending in opposition-run cities

Updated 14 November 2024
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Turkiye probes event spending in opposition-run cities

  • The office said late on Wednesday it would investigate “irregular spendings“
  • The Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has also launched an investigation into two concerts

ISTANBUL: The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office has opened a probe into allegations of illicit expenditures at some public events organized by the Istanbul municipality, marking the latest legal challenge to opposition-run districts in Turkiye.
The office said late on Wednesday it would investigate “irregular spendings” to determine whether the public experienced financial harm, without elaborating.
The Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has also launched an investigation into two concerts organized by the Ankara municipality on Republic Day celebrations on Oct. 29.
The municipalities, which are Turkiye’s two largest cities and both run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), deny the allegations.
Speaking at a career fair on Thursday, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — who is seen as a potential future challenger to President Tayyip Erdogan — said the probes amounted to “reputation assassination.” The Istanbul municipality did not comment further on the probe when contacted by Reuters.
Late last month the CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district was arrested and accused of belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), charges he and his party reject.
Since then, the interior ministry dismissed and replaced elected mayors from the pro-Kurdish DEM party in some southeastern cities for alleged ties to militants, charges they and their party also deny.


Israeli attacks on Syria’s Damascus kill 15, state media says

People check the damage following a reported Israeli strike in the Mazzeh district of Damascus on November 14, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 14 November 2024
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Israeli attacks on Syria’s Damascus kill 15, state media says

  • The buildings are located in the suburbs of Mazzeh and Qudsaya, both west of the capital, the SANA report said

DUBAI: Fifteen people were killed and 16 injured in Israeli attacks on a number of residential buildings in suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a Syrian military source.
The buildings are located in the suburbs of Mazzeh and Qudsaya, both west of the capital, the SANA report said.
Israeli army radio said the targets of the attack in Damascus were a headquarters of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and what it described as other assets, without elaborating.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year’s Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israeli territory that sparked the Gaza war.
Commanders in Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards based in Syria have been known to reside in Mazzeh, according to residents who fled after recent strikes that killed some key figures from the groups.
Mazzeh’s high rise blocks have been used by the authorities in the past to house leaders of Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.