“We saw entire villages destroyed, roads collapsing, and electricity cut off,” says Fouzia Bara, MSF nurse who was part of our first teams in Morocco.

“Despite this, the Moroccan authorities, with the support of some states, managed to remove people from under the rubble, treat the injured, use helicopters to transport the injured from the most remote areas, and distributed food and other materials to affected people.”

Our teams noted the comprehensiveness of the Moroccan government’s response and found very few gaps. On top of the assessment, we provided six donations in response to specific needs expressed at the time by health centres or hospitals between 12-17 September.

These targeted donations were coordinated with the Moroccan authorities. They contained medical equipment and medicines, such as injectable medicines, analgesics (pain killers), antibiotics, insulin and medical equipment. 

Currently, people most severely affected by this crisis urgently need psychological support. This includes search and rescue teams and frontline volunteers.Our teams talked to dozens of distressed women and men in heavily affected areas in all locations that we assessed.

Most had lost relatives, friends or saw their houses and villages flattened. Some were still waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be recovered, acutely aware that live rescue was no longer an option.