Moroccan earthquake survivors adjust to life in tents

DW (English)

The recent earthquake in Morocco has killed nearly 3,000 people and left many homeless. The government has announced a program to help people to cope, including providing temporary shelter. But people are struggling to put their lives back together.

Transcript

00:00 The dust is settling on the town of Amis Mis.

00:04 Now begins a daily life of making do with close to nothing.

00:08 Aid is flowing into this town, but it can't change the fact that hundreds of people here

00:13 are homeless, sleeping in tents provided by the government and volunteers.

00:18 In mountain towns that have been heavily affected by the earthquake, what we've seen is that

00:22 the people who live there did not evacuate the towns.

00:25 They stayed there in tents or some other temporary dwellings.

00:30 This house behind me right here, which completely came down, the owner of that house has moved

00:36 just across the lot into this tent right here, where he's determined to stay until he finds

00:42 a better solution.

00:44 Jamel said he spent 15 years building his house, and he'd only moved in three years

00:48 ago.

00:49 It came down in a matter of seconds, but his family was able to escape unhurt.

00:56 I didn't try to look for things in the rubble because I don't have the strength.

01:01 I can only look at it from a distance, that's it.

01:05 This intersection has become a new neighborhood for dozens of other families in Jamel's situation.

01:13 Omar's house is still standing, but it's run through with cracks and too dangerous to live

01:17 in.

01:18 He lives in this bright yellow government tent, along with his son and his wife.

01:25 Here's the table we eat at.

01:27 Here's what people gave us, some sugar and tea and everything else that we need, and

01:31 dates and bread and water too.

01:33 And if we do need anything else, we bring it down from our old house.

01:37 We go back into that house, even though it's heavily damaged, just to get what we need.

01:41 And as you can see, we're cooking here.

01:43 So we're settling down here until we see what God does about it.

01:47 That's all we can do.

01:53 At 5pm, the call to afternoon prayer rings out, but not from the top of the mosque which

01:58 was damaged in the earthquake.

02:02 Today the imam calls from the street.

02:06 The new mosque is a gap between the tents.

02:10 And Omar joins to pray as he has done for most of his life, and will continue to do,

02:15 he says, as long as he's physically able.

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