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earthquake
Over 1,000 Dead From Devastating Earthquake in Morocco
Death toll expected to climb as emergency workers search for survivors in Marrakesh and other impacted villages and cities.
Sep 09, 2023
This is a developing story... Check back for updates...
The strongest earthquake to hit the country of Morocco in more than 120 years has left over 800 people dead and many thousands more trapped, missing, or injured.
The quake registered 6.8 on the Richter scale with the epicenter located in the Atlas Mountains and not far the city of Marrakesh where historic buildings—many built of mortar and stone not designed to withstand such tremors—collapsed and the streets filled with people overnight trying to flee the destruction and danger.
"The problem is that where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough to cope with strong ground shaking, so many collapse resulting in high casualties," Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, told the Associated Press. "I would expect the final death toll to climb into the thousands once more is known. As with any big quake, aftershocks are likely, which will lead to further casualties and hinder search and rescue."
Morocco's interior ministry put the death toll at 822 as of Saturday morning, with 672 injured, but later revised those numbers to reflect that over 1,000 people are confirmed dead and more than 1,200 injured. Both numbers are almost certain to keep rising. Though the stronger impacts were closer to Marakesh, the earthquake was felt across the country, including in Casablance, Essaouira, and the capital city of Rabat.
Large nations, including both the United States and China, sent their well wishes to the people of Morocco.
"I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Morocco," said U.S. President Joe Biden in an overnight statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all those impacted by this terrible hardship."
Biden said his administration as in contact with Moroccan officials and willing to send whatever help might be necessary. "We are working expeditiously to ensure American citizens in Morocco are safe," Biden said, "and stand ready to provide any necessary assistance for the Moroccan people."
"On behalf of the Chinese government and people, I would like to express my deep grief for the victims and sincere condolences to the families," said China's President Xi Jinping.
Dr. Mohammad Kashani, associate professor of structural and earthquake engineering at the University of Southampton, spoke with the Guardian to offer his analysis of the disaster.
"The earthquake was magnitude 6.8 with 18.5km depth, which is quite shallow," explained Kashani. "The shallow earthquakes are normally more destructive. The location is at the boundary of the Eurasian and African plates. Almost all earthquakes occur at the boundary of tectonic plates due to their movement."
"It is too early to see the extent of damage," he continued. "However, from what I’ve seen in photos and videos this very similar to the earthquake that occurred in February in Turkey. The area is full of old and historical buildings, which are mainly masonry. The collapsed reinforced concrete structures that I saw in the photos were either old or substandard."
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Facing Compounding Crises, Syria Requires Long-Term Investments
The Syrian children and people need attention—they deserve dignified shelters, access to healthcare, a good education, and proper nutrition.
Apr 04, 2023
Nothing could have prepared us for what we sawin the wake of the Türkiye-Syria earthquake.
As physicians who regularly deploy to areas in need, we are no strangers to crisis situations. In the last few years, we have volunteered in war zones from Yemen to Ukraine, building resilience in the local communities, improving access to healthcare, providing emergency response, and strengthening health care systems in crisis or low-resource-affected countries. Wars and natural disasters are the enemies of health. They destroy lives, neighborhoods, and infrastructure. They displace populations and disrupt public health infrastructure. They increase mortality, worsening chronic diseases, and infectious outbreaks. They maim physically and leave unseen psychological scars.
When we touched down last month, our team of physicians was shocked by the endless piles of rubble littering the streets. We knew the former inhabitants of these buildings were either dead or injured. The lucky ones were left displaced in temporary shelters with deep psychological scars that will take a long time to heal. Scattered among the rubble, we saw signs of normal life: chemistry homework, blankets, pillows, colorful plastic cars, dolls. Each represented a person lost to the earthquake.
By conservative estimates, the earthquake has impacted 23 million people, killing more than 45,000 civilians in Türkiye and at least 8,500 in Syria. This figure will sadly continue to climb in the weeks and months ahead. For many victims, this crisis is not their first –10% of those killed in Türkiye were Syrian refugees.
Immediately after a crisis, aid providers and policymakers take stock of the most pressing needs but often fail to think past the emergency to what will strengthen a community in the long run and ensure they are prepared for the next emergency that may come their way.This is especially the case in Syria, which just entered its 13th year of civil war.
Because of the ongoing war, our organizationMedGlobal already had teams present on the ground. Victims flooded into our hospitals in Darkush, Syria just hours after the earthquake. Our surgeons performed more than 600 surgeries, deployed mobile clinics to treat the displaced in the temporary shelters, and distributed much-needed medical supplies to hospitals. But even then, the sheer enormity of the crisis demanded more. For two weeks, we joined eight other physicians from the U.S. to complement the emergency response with training and resilience building.
Building resilience is harder and more complicated compared to the initial emergency phase. It goes beyond addressing immediate needs and focuses on bridging gaps in the system itself. It means training local providers and equipping them with the tools and technology to weather the storm and serve their communities.
Investing in public health infrastructure is as important as emergency response. Countries like Syria, which continue to face crisis after crisis, desperately need humanitarian aid groups and the broader international community to prioritize both emergency response and long-term capacity building, including training healthcare workers, focusing on secondary and tertiary medical care, and improving health governance.There are also significant needs for shelter, food, and medicine. The destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure has led to widespread contamination and worsened the cholera outbreak in the country.
Further, psychological trauma from ongoing war, displacement, and isolation is rampant, as is drug abuse, especially among young men. Our organization runs one of two hospitals in the region for patients with advanced psychiatric disease, as well as a primitive drug rehabilitation center. There are no community resources for dealing with patients with serious mental health problems, and there is a shortage of psychiatric medications. Our drug rehabilitation center is similarly not adequately resourced to deal with the scale of the crisis. The center director told us that 25% of young men are addicted to drugs, including crystal meth, captagon, and opioids. Health care providers are not equipped to deal with this crisis boiling under the surface. Syria has become a narco-state, and more resources must be directed toward this serious problem before things spiral out of control.
Here is the harsh reality: 90% of people in Syria live in poverty and two million Syrian children have been displaced from schools. The earthquake has exacerbated years of violent conflict and economic blockade. Idlib is an open-air prison, cut off from the outside world. Half of its population is displaced from other regions in Syria, fleeing bombs, chemical weapons, and torture.
Syria needs sustained support – which requires political solutions. Humanitarian aid sent to Damascus seldom gets to Northwest Syria. With Russia's help, the Assad regime has weaponized humanitarian aid to deprive populations hostile to its rule of getting food and medicine. Building resilience in war-torn communities starts by making sure they’re resourced. For that to happen, there should be a continuation of UN-run cross-border relief through the three border crossings temporarily open in the wake of the earthquake. Access to resources should be sustained – not only relegated to times of great crisis.The public health capacity we built through in-person trainings and providing resources was crucial, but this work needs to be scaled by international aid agencies, NGOs, and global leaders.
While in Syria, our team took care of Hasan, a four-year-old boy rescued from the rubble of his family house in Salkin after 44 hours. He lost his mother and siblings. Our surgeon had to amputate part of his left foot because it was severely crushed. He was deeply traumatized, like tens of thousands of other children who lost family members, shelter, and any sense of safety and security.
Children like Hasan will need long-term care, not only for physical injuries but for psychological trauma. More than anything, Hasan and the Syrian children and people need attention – they deserve dignified shelters, access to healthcare, a good education, and proper nutrition. They deserve a sense of normalcy and a resolution to the long war and compounded disasters.
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Letter to Tim Cook and Other Big Business Titans
"You and Apple and the Hedge Fund Titans are not known for your charitable giving... Yet, if asked 'Do you believe in the Golden Rule?' You would probably say 'Yes'—at least in public."
Feb 18, 2023
The victims of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria need your help now. The surviving families and children and those rescued alive from the rubble are in serious danger in affected wintertime impoverished regions. Refugees in other places fleeing their war-torn homelands are also suffering. International aid agencies are grossly insufficient for these immediate humanitarian necessities.
What are you Big Business Titans doing sitting on massive pay, profits, and tax escapes? Awakening your consciousness for your fellow human beings may be a modest form of redemption. Further, you have access to logistics specialists, delivery systems, communication facilities, and many other contacts and resources. You get your calls returned! Fast!
Tim Cook, you have been making $833 a MINUTE (plus lavish benefits). Remarkably, your compensation is not even in the top ten of operating company CEOs. Moreover, your own cultivated sense of envy knows that there are Hedge Fund Goliaths, who in some recent years, made off with over $2,500 per MINUTE on a forty-hour week.
Tim, you and the Apple corporation are known to pay few taxes given what tax attorneys and tax accountants do for you (especially with Apple taking advantage of foreign tax havens while receiving the fruits of Washington's free government R&D over the years). Your company has so much leftover money, flowing from the deprivation of a million serf laborers in China, and so few productive outlets for this mass of capital that you have set records for stock buybacks—over $400 billion in the last decade.
You and Apple and the Hedge Fund Titans are not known for your charitable giving as a percent of your adjusted gross income. Yet, if asked "Do you believe in the Golden Rule?" you would probably say "Yes"—at least in public.
Use your wealth and newfound empathy to organize direct relief for these earthquake victims and other major refugee areas such as the starving children of Somalia. Deliver food, medicine, clothing, shelter, mobile clinics, and many other available airlifted essentials. Hire skilled people to make it happen. Give your new organization a prominent logo for permanence and for setting an example for other super-rich to emulate.
Your isolation from the public expectation that you enter the above engagements in a significant way is quite remarkable. That should trouble you and your public relations advisors.
Just this week National Public Radio (NPR) featured a startling compilation of what producers of movies and TV shows believe appeals to their viewers. It is no longer awe or envy of the 'rich and famous.' It is no longer the Horatio Alger myth. It is encapsulated in NPR's headline: Why "eat the rich" storylines are taking over TV and movies.
As Bob Dylan sang, "the times, they are a-changin'."
NPR reporter Kristin Schwab related:
Hollywood's depictions of the wealthy—and perhaps societal attitudes toward them—have changed.… The moment isn't random. Think about the extreme economic events we've been through. There's the pandemic, when essential workers kept the country running while the richest 1% amassed a huge sum of wealth—twice as much as the rest of the world put together (her emphasis), according to the non-profit Oxfam. And before that was The Great Recession, which is how we got the term "the 1%."
Mr. Cook, Apple is reportedly making a contribution to the Turkey/Syria relief effort. Are you personally making a contribution? Your Big Business Titan comrades may think they can get away with gated, cold-blooded mentalities. They may be right about that if the mass media doesn't turn its steely gaze toward their hoards of gold and question their "don't give a damn" attitude.
Maybe they just can't help themselves—so busy are they counting their lucre. Here is an idea: ask them to ask their grandchildren, 12 and under, what they want them to do. Absorb their moral authority and MOVE FAST TO HELP THOSE IN NEED!
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