Morocco Flood Recovery: Experts Assess Safe Rebuilding Sites in Tata Province

After the floods, the time has come for reconstruction in Tata, one of the provinces affected by the recent floods. Mixed commissions, composed of experts, will decide on the site of the reconstruction, and they have started a visit to the affected villages to take stock of the houses that were totally or partially damaged, learns Hespress from an official source at the prefecture of the province of Tata. According to this source, the mission of the experts is to determine the safe geographical site on which the inhabitants will rebuild their houses damaged by the recent flood.

"These commissions include representatives and experts from the urban planning, equipment, water and urban agency sectors, as well as local authority officials and the local authority," details the same source. "The initial phase, after the government’s declaration, is to carry out an inventory, assessment and technical inspection of the damage, and then to work on financing based on the government program," added the same source.

"It is very likely that it will no longer be allowed to build near the wadis," the same source said. Residents must leave the banks of the wadis. There is a risk of resettling in the same areas. "Allowing reconstruction again in these areas would be to expose citizens to danger again," she pointed out, adding that "the plans of the local authorities after the government’s declaration will be strict in this regard, keeping in mind awareness-raising."

And to continue: "The local authorities rely on the specific development plan for these areas, which includes non-constructible areas, especially the banks of the wadis."

"Building near the wadi has become a real danger," acknowledges Brahim, a resident of the Kasbah douar in the commune of Tissint, province of Tata. Victim of the recent floods, he has moved his family to relatives in another region and is currently "homeless." While he welcomes the establishment of a "commission in charge of the census" which has already carried out a field visit last Friday, he regrets that it "has only taken stock of the totally collapsed houses without paying attention to those partially damaged, nor to the heavy agricultural losses."

Following the recent devastating floods, the government has initiated a program worth 2.5 billion dirhams for the provinces of Errachidia, Midelt, Ouarzazate, Tinghir, Zagora, Figuig, Jerada, Taroudant, Tata, Tiznit, Guelmim and Assa-Zag. "Measures will be taken to provide support and assistance for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged buildings and homes, as well as the rehabilitation of road infrastructure, communication, electricity, drinking water and sanitation networks, and to support agricultural activities in the affected areas, in particular by rehabilitating small and medium-sized irrigated perimeters, as well as to provide support to livestock farmers who have lost their livestock due to the floods in order to reconstitute the livestock in these regions," the Presidency of the Government said in a statement.