One year after the severe earthquake, numerous people are still dependent on help. Many families continue to live in emergency camps or makeshift accommodation and lack basic supplies.
In the earthquake on September 8, 2023, over 3,000 people died and over 500,000 people lost their homes, including numerous children. 60,000 houses have been destroyed as well as at least 530 schools – with a massive impact on the education of 100,000 children. “Everything was in ruins, the roads were cut off, children were left alone, it was terrible,” says Samya ElMousti, national director of SOS Children’s Villages in Morocco.
SOS Children’s Villages provided emergency aid immediately after the earthquake. “Our team worked tirelessly,” says ElMousti. Thanks to its decades-long presence in Morocco, the aid organization was able to quickly reach the affected children and families and provide effective help: a total of 27,000 children and over 9,000 adults were supported with, among other things, accommodation, food, medication, clothing, access to water and psychological first aid .
“In the second phase, starting at the beginning of this year, we will support the affected children and families as they rebuild,” says ElMousti. SOS Children’s Villages built wells, set up modular classrooms for over 7,000 children, ran educational and digitalization courses, supported over 10,000 children and adults with psychological help and helped almost 600 families to rebuild their lives. Schools were renovated together with partners.
Even though a lot still needs to be done, ElMousti is cautiously optimistic. She says: “We hear people laughing again, they are starting to trust again and are slowly returning to their everyday lives.”
SOS Children’s Villages provides emergency aid worldwide
Since 2012, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has increased fivefold – from 62 million to 363 million in 2023 (UN OCHA). Especially in long-lasting and unfortunately forgotten crises, people lose their livelihoods and need ongoing support. The emergency aid from SOS Children’s Villages often goes into reconstruction and development projects in order to provide long-term support to children and families. In 2023, SOS Children’s Villages’ humanitarian projects reached over 1.3 million people in 32 crises worldwide – more than half of whom were children.
For further information and the opportunity to donate to emergency aid projects so that SOS Children’s Villages can continue to help quickly and effectively in unforeseen disasters like these, go to: https://www.sos-kinderdorf.at/helfen-sie-mit/spenden/nothilfe