Morocco Earthquake Recovery: Balancing Traditional Architecture and Safety in Rebuilding Efforts

One of the challenges of rehabilitating the mountainous "douars" decimated by the powerful earthquake that shook Morocco a month ago is reconstruction without concreting the villages. A reconstruction that can combine sustainability and respect for traditional architecture. On the ground, architects are mobilizing and sketching ideas for a reconstruction that respects the traditional habitats of these isolated, largely underprivileged regions, reports The National News. A glimmer of hope for the survivors living under tents, receiving care in field hospitals and attending temporary schools. It is necessary "to encourage supervised self-construction, with local materials," estimates the Moroccan architect Karim Rouissi after visiting about thirty villages, particularly in Al-Haouz, the province most affected by the earthquake.

"It is important that the urban response is not the same as for the douars (villages) and rural centers," added the one who recently participated in diagnostic missions in the affected areas alongside other volunteers, architects, engineers, representatives of the Ministry of Housing. Elie Mouyal, another Moroccan architect, deplores that the traditional earth or stone buildings in the areas affected by the earthquake have gradually given way in recent years to cheaper but "often poorly made" concrete constructions. "The exaggerated trust in concrete has been a trap," says this specialist in traditional habitat and earth construction in Morocco, adding that he saw many more concrete houses on the ground after the earthquake.

According to him, the earth buildings that collapsed were already in poor condition before the earthquake. Today, it is a question of avoiding "to copy external experiences or to opt for a standardized habitat", will say Philippe Garnier, a French architect who has studied the earthquakes of Bam in Iran (2003) or in Haiti (2010). According to his explanations, the idea is to start from the experiences of traditional construction of the local populations by bringing improvements and thus revalue their know-how.

Morocco has allocated a budget of 120 billion dirhams over five years for reconstruction, rehousing and socio-economic development of the areas affected by the earthquake. For King Mohammed VI, it is of paramount importance "to be in permanent listening to the local population" and to ensure respect for the "unique heritage" and "traditions" of each region, during the reconstruction.