Report

Morocco: in Marrakech, a stadium transformed into a refuge for disaster victims

In Morocco, the earthquake, which struck on the night of 8 to 9 September 2023 a region of the High Atlas, southwest of Marrakech, caused 2,946 deaths and 5,674 injuries, according to a latest official assessment established on 13 September. A stadium in the city itself has been turned into a refuge.

Listen - 01:28

One of the people who found refuge at the Stade du 20-Août in Marrakech, after the earthquake that struck Morocco on the night of 8 to 9 September 2023. © David Baché/RFI

By: RFI Follow

Advertising

Read more

With our special envoy in Marrakech, David Baché

In Morocco, the mountains surrounding the city saw the most casualties and the greatest damage, but Marrakech itself was hit.

Many buildings have collapsed or are so threatened with falling that their inhabitants have had to leave their homes. This is particularly the case in the medina and in the Mellah district. To rehouse them, the municipality transformed the 20-August stadium into a camp for displaced people.

« There is medicine, doctor and food. There's everything here »

Hundreds of brand new mattresses are lined up on the synthetic turf of the football field. Two huge white tents were erected, one for men, the other for women and children.

Saloua sits next to her four children, aged 2 to 10. "The first day, we stayed on the street," she explains. The children were crying. On the second day, my building fell. I was looking at the men who fell in the street. I was screaming too. Thank God my family is good. There is medicine, doctor and food. There is everything here, diapers for children.

" READ ALSO Earthquake in Morocco: King Mohammed VI visits the wounded at the University Hospital of Marrakech

A few dozen meters away, Meriem cuts bread. She came here with her daughter, brothers, aunt and cousins. "My bedroom and my aunt's room fell down," she says. We weren't in it, we ran out. The first few days, we slept on the street. But yesterday and today, we live here. It was the gendarmes who asked us to come here because it is horrible, terrible. We are here for at least a month and then we do not know.

Officials did not wish to speak at the microphone, and could not communicate the exact number of people actually relocated here. The capacity is 750 people.

A child playing football in the middle of tents, in a Stadium of August 20 in Marrakech serving as a refuge, after the earthquake that struck Morocco on the night of September 8 to 9, 2023. © David Baché/RFI

NewsletterReceive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Share:

Read on on the same topics:

• Morocco
• Earthquake
• Natural disasters