Morocco Earthquake Relief

A devastating earthquake hit Morocco yesterday, leaving thousands of people dead, injured or homeless. Many children have been orphaned. A teacher has written only four children survived from a class she is teaching, the rest of the students perished under the debris of their homes. The areas hit by the earthquake are in the High Atlas Mountains, an area that gets very cold and snowy in the winter, and is made up of many remote villages. The funds raised will go directly to families in the hardest hit areas to restore their houses or restart lost businesses.

The regions of Ouarzazate, El Haouz, Chichawa, and Taroudant belong to a part of Morocco that still carries the scars of Indigenous marginalization, which the earthquake is going to exacerbate for years to come.

Your donation will make a huge difference and will go a long way in supporting families to heal and recover a sense of normalcy in time. A group of Moroccan scholars in the US are working with local NGOs and community leaders to ensure all funds make the biggest, most direct impact to support families.

We have partnered with the Near East Foundation (NEF) to distribute these funds directly to families in the rural communes of Telouet and Imi N'Oulaoun in the Ouarzazate governorate. Although these two areas were hit very hard, the survivors have barely received any aid to help them to restart their lives.

NEF has the resources and the know-how to make the money available to families directly, and they have taken into consideration our criteria for determining who should be the prioritized beneficiaries . The funds will be distributed in two installments of about $400 ($800 total) per family. NEF will use individualized Western Union wires within Morocco to disburse the money to families. For all auditing purposes, NEF has agreed to provide us with a financial report that we will share with our donors. We will also share pictures with some of the recipients in due course.