Oldham group distributes aid in Morocco after earthquake

Oldham Greenhill Community Sports and Recreation Club raised more than £15,000 through JustGiving to support those affected by the earthquake.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit the country on September 8, with the epicentre close to the regional capital of Marrakesh. It is the strongest earthquake in the country’s history, and official figures suggest around 3,000 people have died, with more than 5,000 injured.

Oldham Greenhill’s Abid Hussain is no stranger to charity work. The community champion visited Turkey earlier this year, following devastating earthquakes in the country.

Now, the Latics youth coach is on the ground in Morocco, delivering aid alongside local community activists to areas near the Atlas Mountains, including the small town of Amizmiz and to Assif Imigdal.

A challenging task

Distributing aid in the country is challenging, with unlit roads and poor infrastructure making journeys more hazardous.

Speaking over the phone while travelling to deliver aid to orphanages, Abid said: “It’s severely affected places. There’s roads into mountains, there’s difficult roads. We went to a village yesterday which we couldn’t get to, we ended up on the main road but we had to phone them to come down and see us.

“There are people being missed out, it’s easy to do the local ones on your way but we actually went into the mountains where they’re hardly being reached by anybody.”

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Dramatic peaks form the landscape, making delivering aid more challenging (Image: Abid Hussain)

Families in tents

Families are living in tents due to the destruction caused by the earthquake. Now, the threat of winter looms – with temperatures reaching single-digit lows in the mountainous regions, and snow known to cover the slopes.

Abid continued: “People have lost their houses. Last night we were travelling back at 11 at night, and there was a gentleman on the road in a tent.

“We stopped to give him some money, but he lived opposite – just over the road – and he could see his house, demolished. He was sat there, in a tent.

“We went to a couple of places where the buildings have been knocked and the smell – we don’t know whether it’s bodies or animals.

“Some villages have lost a lot of people. It’s been difficult for them because they don’t have houses.”

Houses reduced to rubble (Image: Abid Hussain)

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People ‘scared to go into their houses’

Abid said people on the ground are scared, having moved into tents containing six to eight people each, and sometimes as many as 12.

In some cases, people whose houses were still standing did not want to go back inside, out of fear of another earthquake. Several aftershocks occurred in the hours and days following the initial earthquake.

Abid continued: “The house is there and they’ve just moved out. They’re scared to go back in. They don’t know how long it’s going to take; they’re scared another earthquake might happen and they’re just sitting in their tents.

The volunteers (Image: Abid Hussain)

“Some properties have been alright, but they won’t go into their houses because they’re scared, they’re just on the roads and the ground, wherever they could find a suitable place to put the tents up and keep their families to be honest.

“Wherever they could put the tents up to keep their families together. Some people have moved out, some people have spaces near to their houses, some people have moved to the ground.

“One village we went to about 130 people passed away, there was a total of 160, but 130 of them passed away because of the earthquake. It’s such a small village and they know everybody and they’re losing that many people, it’s unreal.

“Yesterday, I saw an elderly man being carried into a tent from an ambulance, he’d done something to his leg. They have stations with paramedics and other service providers, the ambulance went down, picked him up and there were four people carrying him back to his tent. People have been affected, it’s not the same. They’re really upset, four weeks on. Some are getting help, some are not getting help.”