Tragedy and Resilience
The morning after, I woke up to countless missed calls and texts from my family abroad.
As I listened to them cry relaying to me the unexpected impact caused by a 6.8 mag earthquake. My aunt sent me a picture:
“This is where my friend and I were planning on having dinner the night of the earthquake. There were only seconds between us making it out of the building crumbling on us. At first, I didn’t realize what it was. I thought maybe a terrorist attack. I ran out of the souq, following the mass crowds. I remember my friend falling as the earth shook and the city crumbled beneath her. The fear in her eyes. No one knew what to do with the situation. Not until we reached far enough away from the center of the souq did my friend tell me that it was what it really was…
Earthquakes were expected to continue to hit until the next day. Nobody slept. Mothers crying, children screaming. In less than a few seconds, people lost their whole lives.”
My aunt decided to extend her stay in Morocco until the end of October. She can’t imagine leaving her country in such a shattered state. She tells me how she is blessed to have made it out of that situation unharmed and given this, she’s obligated to help those who were not as fortunate. While she bears the weight of PTSD after the disaster, still struggling to put into words the devastation that she witnessed, the one thing that has helped her continue is seeing how strongly the Moroccan people have come together.
I now sit here in my apartment. I watch as communities, national and global, come together to rebuild their home.
I question if I am doing enough from where I am and with my reach. I must support my community, I must make a difference in any way possible.
I am inspired by the Moroccan community and family. As we come together to rejoice in times of celebration, we persevere even stronger in devastation, truly speaking to the testament of strength and hope in our country.
As natural disasters like these become more common, with flash floods in Libya and further earthquakes in Indonesia and Northern Iraq, the climate crisis becomes much more perilous. We all have a part to play in reducing the devastating effects of climate change. How we move forward is extremely crucial, not only to prevent more catastrophes but to preserve the world that we call home.
Firsthand pictures of areas of Moroccan wreckage
Pictures taken by Ghizlane Boukarfi
Firsthand video of a temporary forced settlement in Morocco as a result of impromptu mass displacement
Video taken by Ghizlane Boukarfi