Minister of Justice Mr. Abdellatf Ouahbi stated to Arabic TV channel “Al Ghad” in a special interview broadcast by the channel on Tuesday September 20, 2023, that “work is still going on and has not stopped in the areas struck by the earthquake”, pointing out that “we have not finished yet to get rid of the rubble searching for securing people”.
Minister Ouahbi said: “We will not finished the job until we will be sure that nobody is still under the rubble; and until now we have succeeded in reaching out to more than 97% of areas being damaged by the earthquake in different regions struck by the earthquake.”
Minister Ouahbi added that “besides search and rescue operations, we have also set up tents to shelter families which have lost their dwellings and have provided temporary tent schools to ensure the return of pupils to their classes and therefore resume education”.
Minister Ouahbi has stressed that “His Majesty King Mohammed VI has decided to grant children who have lost their parents as a result of the earthquake the character of the nation’s sponsored” which means that the Moroccan state will be responsible for providing education, health care and social support for all those children and will also be granted priority for government jobs requests when they become adults looking for jobs”.
Concerning the Justice Ministry efforts deployed to alleviate suffering on the earthquake victims, Minister Ouahbi has highlighted that “we have also offered our assistance to issue official documents that have been lost due to the earthquake; we have dispatched staff from the Justice Ministry along with notaries and Odouls to assist victims to get issued their documents free-of-charge”.
Minister Ouahbi has stated that “many components from the Moroccan society have rapidly responded to make contributions, including the King himself, who has made a MAD 1 billion, and from a wide range of public and private financial institutions, including government employees, businessmen, ministers MPs, all have made large contributions to the 126 fund to the benefit of the earthquake victims and that those contributions will largely exceed our expectation to be able to reconstruct and rehabilitate those zones struck by the earthquake; and on this occasion, our sincere thanks should go to some friendly countries such as the UAE, Spain, GB and Qatar which were present in the field to alleviate the earthquake impact on local populations”.
Minister Ouahbi has praised the “strong solidarity campaign shown by the Moroccan people during that catastrophe, stressing that this experience will constitute a real opportunity to reconstruct damaged houses in those rural areas and also an opportunity to re-think the reconstruction operations in other areas of earthquake risks”.
“This solidarity between different components of the nation, between His Majesty Mohammed VI’s leadership and the people is really heartwarming”, said Minister of Justice Mr. Ouahbi.