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Anxious waits as NZ-based Moroccans call home after deadly quake
Moroccans living in New Zealand have been frantically checking friends and family back home are okay, and are looking for ways to help their country in the wake of the deadly earthquake.
Morocco was struck by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake centred about 70km south of the city of Marrakesh, just after 10pm local time on Friday night.
More than 2000 people were killed, and more than 2000 were injured in the quake – with very high numbers of critically injured people and the expectation the death toll to climb – the BBC reported Morocco’s Interior Ministry has said.
About 380,000 people live within 50km of the epicentre of the earthquake, which was centred in a mountainous and hard to access area in the High Atlas Mountains on Friday night, the UN said.
The country has declared three days of mourning, as rescuers and neighbours continue to work in rubble from collapsed buildings, trying to find survivors.
Auckland chef Khalid Bouladam told RNZ the local expat community was keen to help in any way possible.
They are investigating the best ways to assist from afar, and hope to talk with representatives at the Moroccan embassy in Australia tomorrow.
Bouladam said it had been difficult getting information and contacting people who were outside the main cities in Morocco, and the community here had been frantically trying to phone their friends and family back home.
“[We’re] very anxious. We’ve been on the calls to all friends and family all night, and also this morning as well, trying to check on everybody.”
Rescue workers search for survivors in a collapsed house in Moulay Brahim, in Morocco’s Al Haouz province, on 9 September, 2023. Photo: AFP/ Fadel Senna
Hassan El Kour, Wellington-based owner of Zaaffran, a catering company and food truck, said his whānau back home were frightened by the earthquake.
They live in the port city Essaouira, about 100km from the quake’s epicentre which was in a mountainous area south-west of Marrakesh.
El Kour said he had managed to make contact with his siblings and friends, either by phone or messaging, and was relieved they were all okay.
Everyone he spoke to, including his elderly parents, had slept outdoors after the earthquake, in case of more tremors or building collapses.
“They all had to get out and just hang out in the squares, it’s just a suburban square, so they just had to hang together for the whole night and just keep out of the houses,” El Kour said.
Residents sought safety in a square in Marrakesh after the powerful earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night. Photo: AFP/ Fadel Senna
Crowds of people continued to sleep in the streets at night, days after the quake.
El Kour was touched by how many of his New Zealand friends had texted him, and how many customers at Wellington’s Harbourside Market offered messages of support this weekend: “They all said … it was amazing – a lot of people.”
Auckland-based Moroccan tour operator Adil Bennani was watching a live debate from Morocco on YouTube when the quake struck, and he watched as the room being shown in the video shook.
There had not been a major earthquake in Morocco for decades, so it was very unexpected, he said.
“Morocco is a beautiful country, and the people are very very nice – the letters and messages of support coming from worldwide, from all countries, make us feel very good,” he said.
A Wellington-based expert in earthquakes said this one was the largest to have struck in this part of Morocco since 1900.
Victoria University geophysics professor Martha Savage said the towns and buildings in the area were not built to withstand this level of shaking, and poor building quality had contributed to the high death toll.
a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesperson said officials in New Zealand were monitoring the humanitarian impacts of the earthquake on the region.
While MFAT said it had not received a request to help with relief efforts, staff were assessing possible ways New Zealand could support the response if needed.
RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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