The meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of the Governor of Chefchaouen province, Mohamed Alami Oudan, and in the presence of provincial and security authorities, civil protection, and the concerned decentralized services, addressed the measures taken within the framework of the national plan to mitigate the effects of the cold wave.
On this occasion, the data concerning the Douars affected by the cold wave in Chefchaouen province were updated, as they number 40 Douars belonging to 11 territorial communes, i.e., a total of 24,393 people organized into 4,023 families.
Mr. Alami Oudan urged, in a speech during this meeting which comes in implementation of the High Royal Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, for the comprehensive mobilization of all logistical means as well as human resources in order to provide the necessary support and assistance to citizens in the concerned areas, stressing the need to activate the role of the Provincial Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, and to ensure continuous coordination and mobilization between various actors to support the groups affected by the cold wave, especially in mountainous territorial communes.
In this context, it was decided to mobilize intervention machinery for snow removal and to reposition them near the areas, points, and road axes that experience heavy snowfall, as soon as warning bulletins are received, as 25 machines belonging to the Provincial Directorate of Equipment and Water and the "Taâwoun" group of territorial communes have been mobilized.
Pregnant women in the Douars exposed to the cold wave were also counted in order to provide for maternity homes for cases close to delivery during the cold wave and snowfall, and to prepare reception places for homeless people in order to shelter them during the period of the harsh cold wave, and this concerns the integration center for the benefit of the homeless and people without permanent shelter located in the province.
So far, 3,690 of the population living in these Douars have benefited from health services provided by medical caravans and mobile medical units programmed within the framework of the "Riaya" operation for the year 2024/2025, with the distribution of a significant quantity of medicines for free, as well as the distribution of heating means in educational institutions, as 34 educational institutions will benefit from 169,000 kg of firewood, i.e., about 2,684 beneficiary students, in addition to the local population adjacent to the forests benefiting from collecting dry wood.
Intervention teams belonging to vital sectors have also been mobilized to repair breakdowns caused by bad weather, and this concerns electricity, drinking water, and telephone networks, and to take precautionary measures to preserve the safety of students and educational staff, and if necessary, to suspend studies during the period of stormy rains, snow, and torrential floods, and to ensure the supply of basic materials in all areas of the province during the winter season, to avoid any shortage or lack of these materials in anticipation of road or path closures.
In this regard, Jaafar Oulamine, from the Provincial Vigilance and Monitoring Committee in Chefchaouen province, confirmed in a statement to the Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) that the provincial committee has been activated in implementation of the High Royal Instructions, as it will, under the direct supervision of the Governor of the province, monitor and evaluate the situation around the clock, and will also work to organize and coordinate interventions with other stakeholders whenever the need arises.
The speaker mentioned that the stakeholders have organized a set of medical and humanitarian campaigns for the benefit of the population of the concerned areas, including organizing medical caravans within the "Riaya" program, mobilizing human resources and logistical means to open roads, distributing significant quantities of clothing, shoes, blankets, and food materials to the concerned population, distributing firewood to educational institutions, placing standby teams in electricity, water, and telecommunications services, and distributing subsidized barley to herders in the targeted areas.
Although the areas of Chefchaouen province have not yet experienced heavy snowfall or road closures due to the negative effects of weather conditions, it has been decided to keep all available human resources and logistical means mobilized in order to address the risks resulting from the cold wave in the province, as the provincial authority renewed its instructions to all authority personnel, security services, decentralized services, and all stakeholders to raise the level of vigilance, continuous mobilization, and effective field presence for immediate intervention when needed.
