A full year has passed since the earthquake that struck a number of regions in central Morocco during September of last year, which is the strongest earthquake the Kingdom has known in its contemporary period, measuring 7 on the Richter scale, causing damage to tens of thousands of residential buildings, thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of injured and disabled people.

The government recently disclosed some points regarding the outcome of its intervention in the aftermath of this earthquake during the past 12 months, revealing that “about 55,142 reconstruction permits were issued, and progress was made in the construction and rehabilitation of 42,632 homes, in addition to 57,805 families benefiting from an amount of two million centimes, which is considered a down payment for reconstruction and restoration, while 97 percent of the affected families benefited from the support,” confirming “the success of nearly 1,000 families in completing the reconstruction and rehabilitation work of their homes.”

As actors in the field, community officials confirmed to Hespress “the existence of an improvement in the rate of work launch after the relative overcoming of a number of obstacles, including the removal of rubble and obtaining work permits, as well as some families receiving payments for reconstruction, in addition to some problems related to the rugged terrain, which required preventing construction in a number of red zones, and then the shortage of manpower.”

Home

Politics

Authorities

Society

Economy

Incidents

The Fourth Estate

Art and Culture

Tamazight

Sports

Sound and Image

Outside the Borders

Officials in the earthquake zones: Construction is progressing despite the rugged terrain and lack of manpower

Officials in the earthquake zones: Construction is progressing despite the rugged terrain and lack of manpower

Photo: Sidi Mohamed Slaoui

Hespress - Abdelaziz Akram

Saturday, September 7, 2024 - 08:00

A full year has passed since the earthquake that struck a number of regions in central Morocco during the month of September of last year. It is the strongest earthquake the Kingdom has known in its contemporary period, measuring 7 on the Richter scale, causing damage to tens of thousands of residential buildings, thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of injured and disabled people.

The government recently disclosed some points regarding the outcome of its intervention in the aftermath of this earthquake during the past 12 months, revealing that “about 55,142 permits were issued for reconstruction, and progress was made in the construction and rehabilitation of 42,632 homes, in addition to 57,805 families benefiting from an amount of two million centimes, which is considered a down payment for reconstruction and restoration, while 97 percent of the affected families benefited from the support,” confirming “the success of nearly 1,000 families in completing the reconstruction and rehabilitation of their homes.”

As actors in the field, community officials confirmed to Hespress “the improvement in the rate of launching work after relatively overcoming a number of obstacles, including removing rubble and obtaining permits for work, as well as some families receiving payments for reconstruction, in addition to some problems related to the rugged terrain, which required preventing construction in a number of red zones, and then the lack of manpower.”

The collective officials behind the management of local affairs in the provinces of Chichaoua, Taroudant and Al Haouz say that “these factors are what have relatively delayed the progress of work in the areas affected by last year’s earthquake, where significant rates of work are being achieved today after they generally exceeded 50 percent, and there are families who have been able to obtain housing opportunities, so that they will reach significant levels in the coming weeks or months, which will largely close this file.”

“Green Indicators”

We start with Abdel Rahim Majri, head of the Idaukmad community in the province of Taroudant, who confirmed that “80 percent of the process of handing over permits to residents who have started the construction process in preparation for housing soon has been reached, in parallel with the existence of some problems, including the existence of some red spots where construction cannot be done due to the difficulty of doing so, in addition to the lack of a large number of workers.”

Majari added, in a statement to Hespress, that “in the interim, our community’s territory has moved from a stage of ambiguity and uncertainty to a stage that promises to accelerate construction projects, especially with the acceleration of the provision of construction sections for residents, as well as the monthly support estimated at 2,500 dirhams per house,” noting that what may have contributed to the slowness that was at the beginning, “is the size of the tragedy, with our region’s lack of experience with this geographical crisis.”

He said: “In fact, we have some families who were able to access their new homes, hoping that other families will join them in the coming weeks or months. We confirm that during the coming year we will reach a very significant percentage of housing,” explaining that “among the problems raised today is reaching the stage of transferring some douars to other areas due to the ruggedness of the terrain and the impossibility of building on their level.”

“Housing is expected to increase”

Mohamed Belasri, head of the Adasil community in Chichaoua province, said: “It is expected that during the next three months, houses will be ready in a number of douars in the community, as we have recorded today between 40 and 50 houses whose owners were able to complete the work completely, after the difficulties that everyone faced in the first months,” stressing that everyone who received the permits and the first part of the support will start construction immediately.

Belasri stressed, in a statement to Hespress, that “the percentage of families’ involvement in the work on their homes is very important, as it reached approximately 95 percent, after there were various problems at the beginning, including a delay in delivering payments to their owners and permits as well, as the movement was not recorded on the ground until this summer after the weather improved and became favorable for work.”

The spokesman pointed out that "there will be a difference in the completion of the works in the commune's douars, as the douars that rely on the services of contractors will be somewhat delayed due to the continuous pressure on these contractors and the increase in the number of houses to be built, as some contractors are responsible for about 200 houses," adding that "next year will bring good news that all families will be able to access their homes."

Various factors

As for the Ounain commune in the Taroudant province, its president, Radwan Al-Maghrani, revealed that "there is progress in the construction rate after a number of families received the necessary permits, in parallel with the study offices following up on the entire process, as we encountered a fundamental problem from the beginning in some douars that are located in areas with rugged terrain that cannot be allowed to build again on their level."

Al-Maghrani explained, in a statement to Hespress, that "among the other factors we faced was the factor related to the difficulties of removing rubble, with some douars not having paths and the inability of bulldozers to penetrate them. However, today we have a certain percentage of fully equipped housing units.”

The same communal official pointed out another fact related to “the lack of manpower, which is a fact that contractors on the ground naturally complain about, especially since some of them are responsible for building an entire roundabout, which negatively affects the progress of the construction process,” stressing that “the continuity of the pace of work currently in the commune means enabling a percentage of families in the coming months to have their homes suitable for living.”

“On the right track”

Hespress contacted Ibrahim Koushk, the president of the Agouatim commune, administratively affiliated to the Al Haouz province, who stated that “in terms of benefiting from the construction support installments and the monthly support and in terms of work as well,