Other Moroccan provinces and municipalities affected by the quake included al-Haouz, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua, and Taroudant, the country’s Ministry of Interior has been quoted as saying.
“In Marrakesh, some buildings have collapsed and the damage is particularly severe in parts of the Medina, a Unesco World Heritage site,” the BBC News report indicates, and continues, “Dust could be seen surrounding the minaret of the historic Kutubiyya mosque, a major tourist attraction near the old city's main square, while the historic Jemaa el Fnaa mosque partly collapsed.”
In the September 14 report, Cardinal Romero says aid workers are facing difficulties in aiding some of the affected people because of difficult terrain.
“They are small populations, but many, and in a vast expanse of territory, in highland areas that were already difficult to reach and which now, with the destruction of the roads and the additional difficulties caused by the earthquake itself, are even more difficult to reach,” says the Spanish member of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB).
Lack of proper coordination of the humanitarian aid agencies is also causing a challenge, the Archbishop of Rabat since his Episcopal Ordination in March 2018 says.
Several personalities and humanitarian agencies have expressed their closeness with Morocco following the earthquake.
In a September 9 telegram message addressed to the victims of the Moroccan earthquake on behalf of the Holy Father, the Vatican Secretary of State said that Pope Francis “expresses his deep solidarity with those who are touched in their flesh and their hearts by this tragedy.”
“Having learned with pain the earthquake that violently struck Morocco, His Holiness Pope Francis wishes to express his prayerful communion in the face of this natural disaster,” said Pietro Cardinal Parolin.
Christian leaders in Morocco have also expressed “compassion and closeness to the whole country and to all Moroccan families who are in mourning, who have injured family members, who have lost their homes and possessions.”
“With you, we turn to the one God who is compassionate, merciful,” the Christian leaders said in a Monday, September 11 statement that church leaders, including Cardinal Romero, Archbishop Emilio Rocha Grande of Tanger Diocese and Karen Smith, President of the Evangelical Church in Morocco, signed.
