French Rescue Team Arrives in Morocco to Aid Earthquake Victims

"We arrived on Tuesday, September 12 by plane in Agadir with listening equipment, first aid, clearing, care and a water purification unit. We are currently in Tizi n’Test, south of Marrakech and we have just been authorized by the authorities to move forward into the mountains," said Gentil de Passos, one of the rescuers, contacted by telephone by France 3.

The rescuer describes the situation in this city hard hit by the earthquake. "About 1,000 houses have been destroyed and 500 deaths have been recorded in the 36 hamlets that make up the municipality. The peculiarity is that the houses are made of friable earth. They don’t leave much chance when they collapse. There is no survival area like in an urban environment. Around us, there is a clinic and the army that is in the process of inspecting the houses to authorize the inhabitants to return home. And tents in which the survivors are sleeping."

Gentil de Passos says he is in awe of the solidarity of the Moroccans. "There is a solidarity that I have rarely seen. Many civilian cars loaded with blankets, food, clothes are flowing towards the mountains. There is a strong desire to help," he commented. He and his four teammates were preparing to go up the mountain. "We have just been authorized to go there with a pickup truck. We may end up on foot, because we don’t know in what state the road is..." he said.

Once there, they will provide aid and assistance to the victims. "We are equipped to intervene in a dangerous environment. There, we have to bandage women who have already been treated, but whose dressings need to be changed. Then we also go on reconnaissance, we don’t know what we will find next," said Gentil de Passos, stressing that the victims need "tents, duvets, clothes and medicines". In a few days, a team of about ten people should join them.