the, the desperate efforts to reach people stranded in mountain areas in morocco after its worst earthquake and more than a century. the scale of a disaster is still not fully known. so does the country have what it needs to cope? this is inside story, the hello and welcome to the program. i'm how much is room people in morocco are rallying together after a catastrophic earthquake struck their country. the numbers of dead and injured run

into the thousands with the lives of many up ended. entire villages have been flattened, thousands of buildings toppled and whole communities left homeless. the country faces a huge rebuilding challenge, but the immediate and most urgent task is reaching people. cut off by the disaster has reminded about a is in a remote village where rescuers are searching for survivors and the rubble. this is one of the areas severely affected by the earthquake in the village of what again, there were many, many casualties here. and the forensic search for people still cropped under the rubble is under way. people say that there are about 3 people still shopped here. i'm just going to give you an idea about the delicate task i had for the security forces is they have to bring in excavators all the way to this area. the rest too, is uh, looking for any chance to get into the void of

a structure before they can decide whether they can send us different tools and then the people to try to retrieve people from under the rubble there. what about 3rd people who died here? screw extremely difficult situation for the people, for those who lost their loved ones. those who are looking forward to see whether that can find people under the problem. and those are desperate to know how life will look like in the near future. for the inside story hush about the bottle of the village of what again south of that i guess the all right, let's go and bring in our guess in america, she is amanda and we're talking a volunteer in her community and also for the i'm other women's training center in dublin is had some of them to an a. he runs a cafe in dublin and is american community leader in ireland. and then jed,

the is martin, my earthquake scientist and professor of geo physics at king abdullah university. a warm welcome to you all, and thanks so much for joining us today on inside story. amanda. let me start with you today. you are there on the ground in merrick cash. i want to ask you about how much fear there is still among the residents of merit cash. we hear these reports of people that are afraid to go back into their homes that are still sleeping outside. what is the current situation and what is the level of fear right now? sure, i think um, in the 1st couple of days, of course, it was very intense, and i do think that the fear is subsiding a little bit. now, as people are just really moving towards relief efforts, but i also think there's a lot of people who are now starting to worry about, can they actually get back into their homes? you know, structurally, if there's any damage, if there's any cracking like, you know, just making sure that everything is safe and in place. so that's kind of the fear now for people who do have had damage, just when can they get back in? and when will it be safe for them to do that?

and i mean, if i can follow up with you from your vantage point, what are the biggest challenges that the country faces right now in the scale of this, of this rescue effort and, and what is the response been thus far? so i think the biggest challenge is, is really just reaching into very remote remote villages that were remote when there is no natural disaster. but now when there is this added, you know, disaster with limited roads and roads that are blocks and, and all of that just, you know, reaching those. but i feel like there's been so much mobile ization and there is progress being made as fast as they can. it's been really, you know, great to see how fast that that has happened. and of course, as much as you know, there's always a need for more, but it's been very quick. and then i think he just grappling with, you know, what does this mean for the rest of the country? because as you know, these areas are, are definitely affected. there are other areas of the country that are completely unaffected, but are seeing the trickle down effects. as you know, the country just has to pull all of its resources to this one area. how soon from

your perspective you're there in dublin, you're a member of the diaspora from where you're sitting. what is the response been thus far from the diaspora from those moroccans who live in other parts of the world who want to help? well, i think it's, it's been kind of like, you know, everyone is under this. that's the 1st shock of you know, to see this devastation. that's the better. that's that took place and i think um, everyone is trying to all gather together and to and think about to do this 1st to 1st waive the help is coming from all different directions and i think, you know, i'm from our side of what we're going to be talking to some of our, my total moroccans to, to, to see like in the long run, to establish something that's, that's, that's would go beyond just, you know, let's get rid of the rebels and things because

a lot of the people that have been displaced and a lot of this villages, so i grew up in my cache and i've been to a lot of displaces on just to see how much is gonna take to even bring something back to bring to light for, to, to, to, to help them to, to regroup. and to recuperate, like some of what it was, it was done losses, which is easy, you know, and i couldn't even imagine being in those situations and my hearts. and so our goal is to the, you know, to diamonds, the people that's, that died and gone gods, you know, lots from home. and so we want to do something in the long run to bring them bring, but the press policy to them that's, that's really the goal. and we're gonna try to do as much as we can to do that. how soon it seems to me you're talking about trying to set up some type of infrastructure going forward so that the people who need a, the most, who need help the most, it's insured that they would get that i want to ask you as somebody who is outside

of morocco right now, do you think that needs to be done more with the help of the international community? is it something that needs to be done more within morocco? i mean, how do you go about trying to set something like that up as well as the 1st lecture just to be like more to the, you know, like there is, there is a great love for morocco, moroccans in islands to begin with. you know, it's a, it's a country that it's known for like it's, it's a generosity under, it's, you know, help for, for, for, for the need outside, you know, anywhere in the most of the most arias. and then there's a combination of that. and the combination of there is some organizations, there's one in marker. so to, to the, you know, the a, a line or international that they do reach out to a lot of disabilities even before the disaster. they used to go in the winter designs, take blankets, sent foods and certain things out to them. so i think that will be the starting point, is the awareness or lack of how to, to, to spread the word. this is how,

how we can help and get in touch with organizations that they're always in place in the morocco and like, and that in my cache or that they can't have access to communities, the small communities that were affected. and i think that would be the most effective way of, you know, of, of moving forwards. so it'd be a combination of, you know, of that was started from ireland as well, and connection dots. and there is the, the, our american and bassett or monsieur lesson is, is as one of the most amazing human beings here that's, did so much for like to, to, to, for, to bring that relationship between morocco and ireland. so that, that's, i will have, i'm going to reach out to them, or i can embassy, and we'll to all that, whatever we can do. and so we build a to help this people will do it because everything that we need to do, you need to be biggest step in it into making it's more of a real thing. i mean,

we just have people that needs to reach. so that's what it is, a goal martin, there's been a lot of shock that this happened in morocco. i want to ask you how one usual it is that an earthquake of this magnitude hit morocco and, and how does this earthquake compared to other earthquakes in the region and around the world in recent years? um, well good afternoon, 1st of all and i initially want to express my deepest condolences to the people of morocco and old people, effective data and pay my highest respect. so the rescue forces that i'm the risk of score and saw that i do an amazing job now to pull people still from the rubble and help. i'm so your question is a very good one. america has had city earthquakes in the past. and 1960, i got the, it was hit by a magnitude 5.8 or 9. those click that killed about 12000 people. and in 2004

further up to the north, there was no cranking. uh okay ma'am. that killed a bit more than 600 people. that means, you know, as quakes do occur in morocco and this is reaching any high atlas, although not very frequently. and that is a tribute to, to the rates of plate motion and the accumulation of geologic stresses. and to reach analogy, yeah i, i, jerry, i, there was a big goes cricket and 19 seventies that also killed thousands of people. so it's not uncommon. audits are relatively infrequent, if you compare, let's say with japan, new zealand or a g, a other countries that are more often hit by lots of quakes. and martin, you're also the 1st 4. 0, sorry, go ahead. didn't mean to interrupt. you, go ahead. right. and so if, if we think back a 2nd part of the question was of the us quakes globally, in the recent past, i need to 6.8 is fairly large. but of course, we all have in our memories,

the quakes of turkey took in north of the syria in february of this year. they was much larger. there was 7.8 and 7.6. and so we can not quite compare what happened in morocco was what happened. and in turkey, never the less people are affected strongly the many lost the lives of many lost their, their houses and, and how to make a life. so the tragedy is essentially the same. it is, you know, people are greatly, greatly affected and great the scan of the, as those who are on site martin, you were talking before about some of the characteristics in this particular earthquake, things like rate a plate motion. as you mentioned, i want to ask you if there are characteristics in this specific earthquake of morocco that make it different than other earthquakes, from what you've seen thus far. yeah,

so that's an excellent question. so 1st of all, are we uh, from the scientific side, we only begin to accumulate the data and the information to make more in depth analysis. um, there are what i would called preliminary um of explanations and physical models of the really happened during that as click the united states geological survey has published already something that allows us to understand a little bit back to what happened. so and rough terms, b as quite a current on a what we call the south dipping, falls under the high outlasts, and spend an area even beeping us about 50 kilometers in length of 30 kilometers in depth. so it's a very large area of, of which that rupture happened. and the to apply added to fault size moves by several meters against each other in just a few seconds. and so that brutal uses the southern release of business grass

creates the voice. now that there's nothing unusual compared to what we know of best quakes over the last decades globally. so that was quite shows same very similar features of what we know from other earthquakes of that magnitude. in the most amanda you were speaking earlier and how soon was speaking earlier about the concern for those in the heart as it areas in those very remote areas. we, we've heard and seen reports the residents in villages in the high atlas mountains have been calling on people from merit cash and from other cities to come and help them. first i want to ask you, are there are volunteers from the city is going to those areas or trying to make it to those areas. and also i want to ask you has a actually started reaching those areas. there's been a massive, massive outpouring of aid and people that you know, if they can drive, they drive up as far as they can. if there are other ways to get there,

there's helicopters of a better going up so they definitely are getting out there. but i think like it's, it's good to think about a geographically right. like you have narrow cache, which is like a very, very large city, right. and then up into the mountains as you go there's, there's bar, bigger cities and villages and then they get smaller and smaller and smaller down to like very small, you know, family compound size. that might only be 20 or 30 members, but they're like really remote in the mountains. and so it's those villages that are really remote that are struggling to get hit. right. so the end gets to the bigger village and then to the small, you know, and then it works its way up. so it's going to take a little bit of time, but it seems like every hour, every couple of hours. more news comes out that, you know, another village has been reach. another village has been reached and, you know, definitely we saw this today this morning that the american military aid was air dropping supplies out of the helicopters to some of those more remote villages. so

there is definitely work under way to get to them. it's just a matter of how, how long it will take to reach those really remote communities. how soon from what you've seen thus far, do you think that the international community is doing enough to aid those most in need? not just in the cities, but also in the remote areas. it just a waiting game and like how, how, how do you clear your clear to pads to, to reach one village and then you clear the path. so it took 2 inches to reach the next one. i think that's where the, the only thing you know that can be done regardless of your have international helpful. not so mean they will move with the same kind of because it seems that the government's has the, you know, they have the things in control and the country is that they are called to help them or help in. and i think that would be lower health needs down the road then i think that's that's, that's really what i feel like that's me. you know, once you weeks just people to help is that,

that's really going to be needed from the international community. and from everyone else is optimized selection. and what happened in turkey and syria like were before. so we need to take a, a page out of that and go, we need to go further. we need some help this people kind of move, we group and you, you know, help them as well. you know, down the roads. you know, so it's not just any one has and let, let me also ask you how tight and it is the american community in ireland and, and there where you are in dublin and, and, you know, what are the efforts been like this far as far as the outpouring of support you're seeing from the american community there. well, i think a lot of them, you know, which you know, to their families, close the loved ones and trying to because it's, it's, this is all or come fresh. do that, you know, so an event that just happens, you know, that's on everyone is trying to, to pace it together and see what they can do. some of them over the donated money,

true diffrent channels. some of them the asking and taking notes of what, what needs to be done and, and i think, you know, we would, we will reach out to you each other and see what will be like the most effective way of, of helping. so like every individual kind of the focus is to, to, to kind of a make sure to your family, your people, you know, in the immediate people, you know, i've done you, then you moving to that like what, what can we do to help people? we don't know that they are far enough and so i think that's what's, what's the, that's where that's where, where you're at right now. so like we tried to organize something that would be, you know, a more effective martin. you mentioned before uh the some of the passengers quakes and morocco you talked about the earthquake and, and 1960. and i wanted to ask you about the fact that, that earthquake in 1960 and morocco that led to changes in construction rules and

in the building regulations in morocco, uh from, from what you've seen thus far in the reporting and the aftermath of this earthquake in morocco, this structures that have been built in these very remote and rural areas, especially in the, in the high atlas mountains. i mean, have, they've been built in a way that they could withstand such tremors. and we must not forget that many of these buildings are probably older than 1960 your buildings shortly after. and so these rules, a new building code might have been in place, but not necessarily applied yet to these structures. and in particular, if we look at the classic building style of my break housing. so these, the adobe constructions was wooden reinforcement in between which is a traditional building style. um, that obviously is not um you know, according to martin creek safety standards, houses that are being built. yeah. i'm sorry,

go ahead. i did not mean to interrupt you now and then i mean maurice, in housing bad stomach, maybe you know, some, some breaks of some concrete. what really matters is the status is reinforced internally. and so if this has not happened, then of course the buildings are more valuable then, then they uh, should be. well martin, let, let me ask you this. uh morocco is a, is a for country, relatively speaking. how can a country mitigate against this kind of a thing when it comes to trying to protect structures against earthquakes? so yeah, and that's, that's, that's a very good question. and it actually turns out that, you know, the building size may be safe is not necessarily very expensive and particular for residential housing for schools of it's just a single floor or maybe 2 for us. and in fact, there are, there are actually techniques that are used for instance, and they part of that experience of our logic that's quick in 2015. but even before

that in which they retrofit existing buildings and schools with very simple methods and just reinforcing the building, somebody outside was across braces and things like that. and so that they both ways to build, of course, from scratch and, and at a relatively seismic a safe way. but also to retrofit houses in with, with the local resources and local skills accordingly. if you have the respective programs in place, so that let me ask you um, how expensive would that kind of an undertaking be? and what kind of expertise would be needed? the icon comment on the expenses, i simply don't know because that depends on, you know, where your source, the local materials on how many buildings you have to retrofit and what their status is. so that this is something i cannot really comment on um, in terms of, of the skills of the local work as i think that is not too difficult. and in fact,

um i, i, there is an n g o in, in california that works with the local population and trains. the local engineers in this case is specifically and they, paul, and i think also in the philippines to build the buildings or the retrofit the existing schools in residential housing with the local materials and with the local engineers to make it fast, relatively fast, efficient. and in particular, affordable for the local population. so it can be done. and it's really an educational aspect that um, that makes the difference. amanda, i saw you nodding along somewhat. martin was saying that it looked like you wanted to jump in, so i'm going to go and let you do that. you know, i mean, i think that, you know, traditionally built houses here are built in the traditional way, like you said, with my brakes. um, and a lot of these, you know, communities out there are builds, you know, using their traditional techniques and their traditional building ways that are not

only for earthquakes, but also to withstand really severe winters. and that, you know, so you have a complex number of things that they're trying to deal with, which is, you know, snow cold, rain, torrential rain at times, bus now earthquakes and all of these other possibilities. and so it, there's a lot of just a lot to take into consideration there. i mean, let me also ask you about the fact that the window is quick like this hits. there is obviously a lot of psychological trauma. and i want to ask your how much concern there is amongst your community and the volunteers with regard to the kind of psychological impact this will have 4 survivors. yeah, i mean, i don't think we're quite having those conversations yet and some people are talking about it. and it's ways from people who don't want to talk about it at all . the people who, that's all that they talk about. right. and i think that that's natural, after some traumatic event happens. i also hope that there is some effort put

into how to handle children who are well, you know, have gone through this mentor. now, you know, fearful and afraid, and possibly have, you know, lost their families. but you know, for the survivors as much aid comes in and as much as the death full mounts, you know, for the size of the people who survived. and the people who have well now have to rebuild whether that's, you know, their livelihoods, their houses there, you know, their lives in general. um, that's also important. i guess um, and i feel like can sometimes be lost in the, you know, in the numbers. amanda, you also mentioned earlier some of the, the logistical challenges uh that, that the aid workers and other volunteers are, are facing right now. and i want to ask you more specifically about that. i mean, how difficult is it specifically to get medical aid to get that food uh to these very remote areas, what are some of the real challenges right now the people are facing and trying to

get to these places? i mean, i think the biggest challenge is that there are not that many roads in, in general that go up into these areas. you know, there's some villages that you've been a good times are on the accessible by new or by foot. um and so those areas are hard to get and then if the roads that you're using to get there are blocked from route from, you know, land slides or from, you know, just folders that are in the way you have to get the equipment there to move those things, and that means why the equipment is down here. you know, there, you know, 304050 kilometers or more away. so imagine having to move and excavate or you know, 50 or 80 kilometers up into the mountains just to get to start moving these rocks that logistically difficult. so i think it's just getting those accessible roads, enough accessible pathways and then using air support where possible. and there's not a lot of plan in space either for helicopters,

right. so if you're flying helicopter aid and there's not a lot of flat spaces for them to land, so they need to be able to air drop or figure out another way to either, you know, bring a down or to lift out people who have been injured. hudson, um, from your vantage point, how difficult will reconstructs will reconstruction efforts be what i think is going to be extremely difficult to, to, to, to, to, to do that depends um, um, and i think you know, like a lot of the people like a tony or like martin and the talking about like due to auction to, to we think the way you always build products, your traditional way of building your, your how your homes and things of that sort. and schools, and that's so you of the new on for us, trucked, or it has to be has to be. we figure again because a, you know, if, if this comes again, then you will be, you'll be at least prepared,

then you would have less of what's, what's the damages that have been done? that the experience in right now. and the other thing is the, is the, uh, the, the health like the depths. and that's a, that's a to have to do the fund and due to the people that what did you k to and then uh, uh about how to, to rebuild. you know your home and it'd be safer in the future. and the other thing that's it, that's it, that's criminal is talking about the psychological parts. i think that is where do you like and that is the effect. that's what, that's what would be, especially for children and as we see like there's a lot of, lot of the kids that they lost their loved ones and, and, and then at the dis, they're going to be displaced. so where are they gonna go? so there's are another thing that does that have to be taken in consideration. so to see where are those kids kind of go like and for the education for that things

and you know, um, so that's a, that's another challenge. all right, we have run out of time, so we're going to have to leave the conversation there. thanks so much to all of our guest amount and will talk to you, send them to me and martin my and thank you to for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website, l 0 dot com. and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ag inside story. you can also during the conversation on x r handle is at a inside story from home and enjoying the whole team here, bye for now the the

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