The New York TimesThe New York Times

In wake of Morocco earthquake, frustration fuels solidarity

By Catherine Porter

12 Sep 2023 · 3 min read

informed Summary

  1. A group of volunteers has been delivering aid to remote villages in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, following a devastating earthquake. The quake, the strongest in the region for over a century, killed at least 2,862 people and injured another 2,562.

DOUAR BOUSGUINE, Morocco — The line of eight vehicles made its way up the dirt road shuttling loaves of bread, folded sweaters, antibiotics and a warm sense of solidarity up to the broken mountain. An hour up the road into the Atlas Mountains from the provincial capital of Taroudant, the caravan came to stop in a darkened village that a group of volunteers had heard was in need of help.

The volunteers had been driving all day from their homes in distant cities. Pulling out flashlights and attaching headlamps, the motley group clambered over mounds of rubble, peaked at long cracks along walls and bent down to assess the spot where neighbors had dug out a 32-year-old man and his six children who had been eating dinner when the earthquake struck.

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