Support High Atlas community earthquake resilience

Today, our team shared highlights on our social media of the guidelines for volunteers we’ve developed (see cover image and images below).

• As part of the work to deliver aid to communities, we’re working with a multitude of volunteers. Some are community members, but many of those less affected and more able to help are coming from outside the region and cultural context of the High Atlas. These volunteers are contributing a heartfelt flow of their time, energy, material goods and resources—like the use of their cars and pickup trucks to convey aid to different sites.

• At the same time, we are collectively operating in conditions of great need, sometimes limited supplies, uncertainty, stress, trauma, and loss.  These circumstances create the need to engage in collaborative decision-making, and sometimes conflict resolution. We’re using our skills as logistics coordinators,  facilitators, team and community leaders, and consulting with mental health counselors and a host of others to inform our practice in service to communities.

What we did today

• Our Agadir-based team sent two deliveries to Marrakech containing blankets, duvets, solar projectors (lights), solar torches (flashlights) and shoes, with the help of transport donated by Itrane & Globus and Baha Trans.

• Our Marakesh-based team received distressing calls for help yesterday from Mejjat, outside Al Haouz province in the Marrakesh-Safi Region, which had received no aid since the earthquake hit. We urgently collected supplies and made the trip today to deliver 65 emergency thermal isolation blankets, clothing, and baby formula.

What we learned

• In Mejjat, we worked through an equitable distribution process when the need was great and we didn’t have enough supplies for everyone. Our team distributed these supplies to 37 families across three villages in Mejjat (Birbbou, Azilal and Orumh’end). The aid distribution process involved designating an individual to carefully identify the families in greatest need across the three villages. 

• After identifying the families, we put together 37 sets of supplies, wrote families’ names on bits of paper, and conducted a fair random selection to ensure equitable allocation, as some items were in short supply or different. The BBC accompanied our field team to conduct interviews, allowing those affected by the quake to share their stories and shed light on the organised distribution process. 

What we will do next

• Our Agadir-based team also assembled 30 sets of 2 bags, one containing basic food and the other containing hygiene products, to be distributed in Chichaoua Province, which is still in need of more basic provisions. 

• Our Marrakesh-based team also procured more supplies to create another 20 sets to be dispatched in the coming days. The rest of our Marrakech-based team gathered in the office today to strategize the best course of action over the coming days for distributing aid based on urgent needs and well-though-out resource allocation. We’ll share more about the theory of change we’ve developed to inform our work soon.

Thank you for your outpouring of support! We are grateful for your partnership.

Images:

Summary guidelines for volunteers: GDF Instagram (global_diversity) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/glbaldiversity), 15 Sep 2023.

Partners in the work: video still image from 2022, MBLA Instagram (mbla.morocco)

Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of incredible donors, we have raised nearly 110,000 GBP in 96 hours across our 2 crowdfunding campaigns on GlobalGiving and PayPal.

What we did today

• Six vehicles were dispatched from our Marrakech office with in-kind material donations garnered through our social media campaign, along with supplies we’ve procured. These resources were strategically allocated to cover a range of affected villages, including Talat n Yassin, Imegdal Centre, and Ijoukak.

• A strong aftershock of magnitude 4.6 struck earlier this morning, inducing panic and blocking roads with fallen rocks. This led to a delay in the delivery of our aid to Ijoukak. Fortunately, our team members remained unharmed. However, subsequent reports indicated that more homes had collapsed.

• One of our plant nurseries in Imegdal (see images) has transitioned into a site for setting up tents for people who lost their homes throughout the entire commune. Additionally, this location now serves as a central spot for receiving supplies from travelling volunteers. These items are distributed thoughtfully according to what the affected surrounding villages need, with oversight provided by Hamid, a resident of Imegdal and committed member of the MBLA team (see image).

What we learned

• Local knowledge and an ethos of care for place and people matters during disasters. Hamid has worked with MBLA and GDF for over adecade, managing a nursery he helped to found. In the process of aid distribution he is guiding, Hamid can draw on the skills, care and deep local knowledge of the landscape and communities honed in the allocation and distribution of tens of thousands of medicinal plants, fruit and nut trees to his region over a decade (see images). We are confident that some of the medicinal plants—like wild thyme and lavender—that Hamid cultivated, distributed and helped to replant out in the landscape will also help to nourish Imegdal communities during this emergency.

• Our livestock expert has consulted with the Delegation de Santé of Al Haouz about contamination risks and potential epidemics. Deceased animals that have not yet been removed, in combination with rains, will increase the risk of contamination. We are now planning to include this issue in our relief strategy as well as providing veterinary care alongside SPANA working animal charity. We will also be purchasing livestock fodder to send in future expeditions.

What we will do next:

• Our team also collated urgent supplies for Mejjat- a village which has received no aid since the earthquake hit. Based on their input we have collected large amounts of blankets, clothes, water, food and baby formula to be sent to them tomorrow. 

• We are currently also formulating a volunteer code of conduct and allocation mechanism to ensure that the right help reaches the right places and communities are protected.

Our deep gratitude for your support!

Images: See report text and captions below.

Source, cover image and following two images: MBLA Instagram, mbla.morocco, 12 Sep 2023 Source, plant nursery images: MBLA website, https://www.mblaassociation.org/where-we-work/.