Moroccan Immigrant in Spain Loses 33 Family Members in Devastating Earthquake

The Moroccan woman is inconsolable. She lost her mother and more than 32 members of her paternal family in the earthquake that hit her country of origin on September 8. "You don’t know what it’s like to learn that almost your entire family is dead... I had no news for the first few hours, they waited several days before informing me," she confides to La Razón, still in shock. Zahra adds that more than 20 relatives were injured and hospitalized and that one of her uncles is in very critical condition.

Zahra’s family lived in Taroudant, one of the areas most affected by the earthquake. The rescue teams still cannot access these areas because the roads are still blocked. The Moroccan expatriate cannot realize that she will no longer see her uncles and cousins. "They had a life, they had young children and now there is nothing left," she laments. Despite her sadness and her broken heart, Zahra has decided to help the victims. "They need help, blankets, warm clothes and a little food."

For Zahra, it will take several months to build new housing for the victims as winter approaches. A blanket "can change their lives," says the Moroccan woman. That’s why she supports the Islamic Center of Palencia, which has launched a charity campaign in solidarity with the victims of the earthquake, calling on the city’s citizens to donate medicines, blankets, clothes, basic food and baby products, as well as tents, water pumps or solar panels.

Kamal el Okbani Naimi, the initiator of the campaign, is open to any form of aid. "I hope the people of Palencia will give us a hand, because the people are suffering a lot," he said, specifying that all these donations will be packaged and sent to Morocco in trucks. "The collection is progressing at a good pace, the first truck that will leave is already almost full," Kamal added. The center will continue to receive donations "every day, including weekends, between 10am and 1:30pm and in the afternoon, from 6pm to 9pm," until Friday, September 22.