The UN said today that, according to its most recent contacts with the Moroccan authorities, is waiting for the government to formally request assistance in favor of earthquake survivors.
“We hope, based on the discussions we have had with the Moroccan authorities, that the request for assistance will be made between today and tomorrow,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, who is in Geneva to direct logistical assistance plans to Morocco and Libya.
The humanitarian official explained that Morocco has a solid disaster response structure and that, after focusing its initial efforts on the search and rescue of victims, it is now moving to a second phase in which the priority is to address the needs of those affected and in which the UN can play an important role.
“Morocco has moved from one phase to another and they have told us, themselves, that now The priority is helping the survivors,” he pointed. Griffiths commented that immediately after the disaster The authorities indicated to the UN that they had sufficient capacity to deal with the emergency, But now that the victims must be helped to survive, the assistance that the UN can help coordinate becomes more important.
“I do not have any critical comments to make” regarding the way to respond to the situation in Morocco, the UN representative clarified. He maintained that efforts must continue to locate survivors, particularly in villages located in very high mountain areas.
Red Cross and Red Crescent Federation spokesman Benoit Carpentier said from Morocco that The devastation caused by the earthquake “is not centralized in one place”, but has affected “hundreds of towns and villages” of very diverse size.
He maintained that the rescuers of the Moroccan Red Crescent Society are trying to cover all the affected population centers and plan the help that will be required in the near future.
“In the mountains temperatures will drop to minus zero in the coming weeks and we need to make sure everyone has some kind of shelter.”. “Here we are not talking about repairing, but rather rebuilding the towns, which can take months or years,” Carpentier commented by video call.
