Moroccan earthquake – Education for All – what we know and how you can help
Just 24 hours later and the girls would have been safe in the EfA houses (the Education programme we work with in the Atlas mountains in Morocco.)
some of the EfA girls in happier times
The new school term was due to start on Monday 11th September – the house mothers were all at the houses to prepare them to welcome the students in their care for a new term.
So the good news is that all the house mothers are safe.
a photo taken in happier times
We cannot say that about the girls – all of them were in their homes in the villages – the remote villages that were at the epicentre of the earthquake – their homes built of clay bricks.
a typical village
The distressing news is that we do not know how most of the girls and their families have fared.
The priority for EfA is to garner news about the girls – this is the latest from Karima
“We have news from some girls who are ok. They are all talking abut their loss, they lost people in their families, the neighbours, they also lost their homes but they are happy to be alive. But we still don’t have any news from the villages around Talat n’Yakoub because the network doesn’t work so they are really isolated, some of the villages you cannot access to them the roads are all bad. So we are still looking for some news.”
All EFA boarding houses are damaged to a greater or lesser extent – – all need rebuilding totally or in part.
“Could you please update the volunteers because with this situation unfortunately we won’t be able to welcome any volunteers … We won’t even be able to welcome the girls because you see how the houses are damaged so we will need to see what to do with the houses and how to rebuild them. Also the schools are damaged so even if we welcome some girls they won’t be able to go to school. So I don’t know yet how we will do and what we will do but for sure we won’t be able to welcome the volunteers.”
The priority of the Moroccan authorities is to get aid to the remote villages that have been devastated – but the roads are closed and there are next to no telecommunications so this will take time.
“…the girls were not in the EFA houses but were in their homes many of these would have been close to the epicentre and their houses of poor quality so we fear there may be sad news from some of these villages. ” from EfA founder Mike McHugo on Sunday night
This video was made by one of the house mothers. This is actually her bedroom. It is the latest house built by EfA in Talatnyacoub
EfA have launched an appeal:
If you would like to donate to the appeal by Education for All take a look here
And finally a reminder of the incredible work that Education for All do:
IMPACT REPORT 2022 EDUCATION FOR ALL MOROCCO
Thankyou everyone.
If you have any questions or would like to be kept up to date – please email