On September 8, 2023, a terrifying earthquake shook Morocco, wrecking buildings, claiming lives, and upending entire villages during its wake. The Morocco earthquake of 2023, or the Oukaimedene earthquake (britannica.com), stole the lives of over 2,000 people, and over 5,500 people were harmed. This earthquake happened near the town of Oukaimedene in the Atlas Mountains, around 11:11 pm (6:11 pm for Morocco).
The Oukaimedene earthquake happened because of a “reverse fault”, a geological phenomenon that occurs when tectonic plates collide, causing the plates to slide against one another. The reverse fault then results in the Earth’s crust jolting up (cbs.com).
It is rare for this area of Morocco to have an earthquake as strong as this one. This is Morocco’s deadliest and strongest earthquake since 1960 (reuters.com). The Morocco earthquake of 1960 had a magnitude of 5.9, which killed around 12,000 to 15,000 people. However, the magnitude of the Oukaimedene earthquake was 6.8, which breaks the record for the magnitude of Morocco’s earthquakes. The earthquake spread from the epicenter, which was near the Atlas mountains, to as far north as the city of Casablanca (cnn.com). The depth of the Oukaimedene earthquake was 11.5 miles, and the epicenter was 44 miles southwest of Marrakesh (disasterphilanthropy.org).
People all around Morocco are upset that they have lost everything. Many of them are grieving for how they have lost their friends in their villages and how they don’t know if they can recover. “Everyone in this village is like family to me, and our family is now shattered…It’s a big wound that will never heal,” said the seventy-four-year-old Aicha Ounasser, a survivor of the Moroccan earthquake (cbs.com). Unfortunately, some people affected by the earthquake lost their homes, or lost their own lives underneath their homes. Mohamed Azaw, another survivor of the earthquake, said, “When I felt the earth shaking beneath my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my kids out. But my neighbours couldn’t. Unfortunately no one was found alive in that family. The father and son were found dead and they are still looking for the mother and the daughter” (reuters.com).
“When any tragic situation happens in general, and lives are lost, especially innocent ones, it really does wear down on you. The knowledge that people suffered and died is really devastating,” says freshman Malaya Villamor.
Moroccans are suffering from the loss of their homes along with the misery of losing family members and or friends. Several communities have been left homeless so the country now has to face huge rebuilding costs. The exact cost to repair the economic damages of this earthquake is 11.7 bn (Brunei) which is around 85.5 billion USD. This goal is hard to achieve because Morocco is not the wealthiest country. Luckily, there are a few organizations that are trying to help out with this.
There are a few websites that are accepting donations that will go to organizations to help out the people in Morocco. Specifically, these organizations plan to help others in Morocco by providing materials, aiding rebuilding efforts, helping the Moroccan government, and sending teams to tend with local needs. These organizations include Global Giving, UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund), and Doctors Without Borders (nytimes.com).
“It’s important to be aware of situations that happen like this and in other nations. Because then people could come together to help those and donate money, supplies, to overall create a better world,” stated freshman Mara Salazar.
