More than 15 months after the devastating Al Haouz earthquake (September 8, 2023), victims of this natural disaster continue to complain about not receiving the financial aid allocated to families, as well as support for rebuilding damaged homes. This prompted them to organise a protest today, Monday, in front of the Parliament building in the capital, Rabat, during which they denounced what they described as "irregularities and manipulations" that marred the distribution process of this support by local authorities in the affected areas.
During the protest, called for by the "Al Haouz Earthquake Victims Coordination Committee", the victims recalled their suffering in tents and the "false promises" they received from regional officials, while demanding the intervention of the responsible authorities, led by the Ministry of the Interior, to resolve their files, end their suffering, and send a committee to investigate the "irregularities" of local authorities in the Al Haouz province. They raised a series of slogans, such as: "Amizmiz, you jewel... the thieves have ruined you", "Oh Minister, oh official... this is not reasonable", and "Committees have come and gone... and the situation remains the same".
In a statement to the electronic newspaper Hespress, Montassir Ithri, one of the victims and a member of the Al Haouz Earthquake Victims Coordination Committee, said that "this protest comes in the context of a series of protests organised by earthquake victims for over a year, whether in front of local leaderships, provincial headquarters, or the Wilaya, in order to implement what was stated in the Royal Cabinet statement dated September 14 of last year".
He added: "Unfortunately, a year and about four months have passed since the earthquake, and people are still living the same suffering in plastic tents, exposed to various climatic changes and factors", stressing that "the victims came to the capital, Rabat, in the hope that their voice would reach the responsible authorities to achieve one demand: the implementation of the contents of the aforementioned Royal Cabinet statement".
The member of the Al Haouz Earthquake Victims Coordination Committee continued that "hundreds of families affected by the earthquake were excluded from benefiting from the support, whether monthly aid or reconstruction support, despite the number of complaints, letters, and petitions we sent to the concerned authorities in this regard".
He noted that "the Minister of the Interior had the courage to say that there were families who benefited from the support despite not being entitled to it, but he did not have the courage to say that there were hundreds of families who truly deserve the support but did not benefit, due to the involvement of local authorities in manipulating the victims' files", pointing out that "most local authorities in the affected areas benefited from the support along with their families, and even for houses that had collapsed before the earthquake".
The same speaker demanded that the Minister of the Interior "send a committee to investigate the manipulations and irregularities that marred the process of compiling the list of those entitled to support, as what happened requires investigation. It is also inconceivable that local authorities would exploit this suffering to settle their old scores with some of the victims".
This demand was repeated by a number of victims who participated in this protest and spoke to the electronic newspaper Hespress, denouncing their deprivation of aid and support allocated to earthquake victims, and calling for the acceleration of the disbursement of the promised financial support and the reconstruction of their homes.
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