By Ahmed Eljechtimi
AZGOUR, Morocco (Reuters) -As rains swept into Morocco’s Atlas Mountains earlier this month, 72-year-old Lahcen Abarda rushed to reinforce the plastic sheeting of the tent where he has lived for the past two years.
Abarda, a victim of the 2023 earthquake that killed nearly 3,000 people, says he has already had to repair his tent from sun and wind damage as he still waits for promised aid to build a new house.
“I have been living in plastic tents since my home was destroyed,” said Abarda, a subsistence farmer, who shares the tent with his two daughters. “Whenever I ask, they say you will benefit later.”
INVESTMENTS IN STADIUMS FOR THE 2030 WORLD CUP
Two years on from Morocco’s 6.8-magnitude quake, the pace of recovery efforts has frustrated many victims, and critics point to a contrast to the country’s fast-paced investments in stadiums and infrastructure projects ahead of the African Cup of Nations in December and the 2030 World Cup.
Last week, on the second anniversary of the quake, dozens of survivors staged a protest in front of Morocco’s parliament in Rabat, calling on the government to take reconstruction aid as seriously as World Cup projects.
They held banners with the names of villages destroyed by the earthquake and chanted slogans including, “Quake money, where did it go? To festivals and stadiums.”
“We are happy to see large stadiums, theatres and highways in Morocco. But there is also a marginalised and forgotten Morocco that needs political will,” said Montasir Itri, a leader in the group supporting quake survivors.
The government has spent 4.6 billion Moroccan dirhams ($510 million) on housing aid for quake victims as of September, offering 140,000 dirhams (about $15,500) in aid for totally destroyed homes and 80,000 for partially damaged ones.
By comparison, it has allocated more than 20 billion dirhams to prepare stadiums for global tournaments.
Overall, sentiment in Morocco is broadly positive around the World Cup preparations, which authorities say will boost the country’s profile and bring economic growth and new jobs.
Moroccan officials deny prioritising World Cup spending over quake recovery efforts, and Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch has praised the pace of reconstruction.
“There are not many tents left,” Akhannouch told state TV, promising to address remaining cases individually.
‘TWO-SPEED’ MOROCCO
Dismantled tents line the road to the Atlas village of Sellamte, which was hit hard by the quake. Many of the tents’ one-time residents have moved into concrete houses built with reconstruction aid.
According to government data, out of 59,675 homes damaged in the quake, 51,154 homes have been rebuilt. Local authorities in Al Haouz said only 4% of homes have yet to begin construction. They also said all tents had been dismantled.
But Itri’s group disputes these figures, saying many survivors are still living in tents and even for those who have secured new housing, aid has not been enough.
Construction worker Mohamed Ait Batt told Reuters he received only 80,000 dirhams to restore his partially demolished house. But then he was told to relocate to an area near the village without receiving enough aid.
“We were planning a wedding for my son, but the money we received wasn’t enough to build. We used all his savings, and we still have more to do,” he said, inside the unfinished home he shares with his wife and daughter
About an hour’s drive away, in the village of Anerni, new one-floor brick homes with uniform facades have replaced the diversity of traditional mud, stone and wood houses unique to the Amazigh-speaking Atlas people. Beside them stand rows of makeshift tin shelters.
Inside one, Aicha Ait Addi sat on a plastic mat and poured tea.
“My house was fully destroyed. When I complain, they tell me I wasn’t living here. But I have a home here. Do they want me to abandon my village?” she said.
Morocco, where some cities enjoy European-like living standards, has reduced poverty rates from 11.9% in 2014 to 6.8% in 2024.
Yet its rural areas still show above-average poverty, according to the national statistics agency. King Mohammed VI, who sets Morocco’s policy direction, has acknowledged the divide.
“It is not acceptable for Morocco – today or at any time in the future – to be a two-speed country,” he said in a July speech, urging reforms to address rural poverty.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Alexander Dziadosz and Ros Russell)
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