In the wake of the quake's devastation, Morocco's 'local civil society is really coming together'

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00:00 For more analysis, we can cross to London and speak to Sara Alma, who is a humanitarian director

00:04 at ActionAid International. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. What's your understanding

00:10 of the current situation in Morocco and what people's needs are?

00:14 Thank you very much for having me. As we've seen from the reportage that was just made,

00:23 the needs are immense. We have acute needs of food, water, shelter, all basic necessities,

00:31 and we are still very much in the search and rescue efforts as well. So basic humanitarian

00:39 needs are critical at this stage. And a really difficult coordination effort in a situation like

00:46 this, isn't it, where you've got the domestic effort and then you've got all the countries

00:50 around the world who want to help? There's a risk, isn't there, in a situation like this,

00:54 where too many people turning up at once actually hinders the operation?

00:58 Indeed, coordination in these types of situations is always critical. I think what was shown here

01:06 as well is how local civil society is really coming together to support the effort. And that

01:13 is something that ActionAid in its work is supporting since two decades in Morocco, local

01:19 women-led feminist organizations at the front line of this crisis and disaster. So it is definitely

01:27 an effort that needs everyone with their different expertise in order to save as many lives as

01:33 possible and also to make sure that those worst affected can get back to some kind of normalcy

01:40 as quickly as possible. We've been hearing from our correspondents on the ground about the

01:45 aftershocks and that of course makes an already dangerous search and rescue effort and relief

01:51 effort even more dangerous because of course there could be more earthquakes, couldn't there?

01:55 Absolutely. And we saw that happening just a few months ago in the Syria-Turkey situation. So

02:04 the situation is still very precarious for our teams on the ground and we need to make sure that

02:11 we move safely and quickly with all the different response effort as coordinated as possible.

02:16 They speak lots of different languages, especially in remote areas of Morocco,

02:21 there are different dialects and so on. So of course, language barrier being

02:24 one of the challenges that's unique to this particular disaster. Are there other aspects

02:31 to this disaster that makes it different from other disasters that you've had to work on before,

02:37 Sarah? I think there are quite a few similarities. Of course, every disaster is unique, but I think

02:44 what we have here obviously is that the worst affected areas also has big access challenges.

02:52 And again, that is something that we have seen in the Syria-Turkey earthquake. We also saw it

02:59 in Afghanistan before that. So I do hear from our teams on the ground about the immense challenges,

03:07 but also about all the efforts that we put together in order to overcome them. So I am confident that

03:17 together with others, we are doing our very best to respond to this tragic situation.

03:23 And of course, there are lots of phases, aren't there, to the response. There's what happens in

03:27 the immediate aftermath, and then there's a sort of a middle phase and then obviously a longer phase.

03:33 Tell me about the immediate aftermath. What does that actually apply to in terms of the number of

03:38 days? And what determines that the window on the immediate aftermath has shifted towards the

03:44 midterm phase of the relief effort? I think one of the challenges in these early stages is that

03:52 a lot of activities needs to happen in parallel while of course prioritising the search and rescue

03:58 effort, which is about saving lives. And that is something that teams that have this as a

04:04 specialisation will be prioritising until there is absolutely no opportunity of finding any

04:13 survivors. And then it goes into the recovery phase. But as we have seen with other disasters

04:19 of this kind, sadly, this is not going to be over in a short period of time. There will be need for

04:26 support and efforts over a longer period. And that's also why as ActionAid we feel it's extremely

04:32 important to support local partners on the ground that have been in Morocco before the disaster and

04:40 that will continue long after and be able to support these communities, not just in the acute

04:46 relief phase, but in the longer term needs that come thereafter. Just lastly, Sarah, we've been

04:52 looking at some obviously very upsetting pictures coming out of Morocco in this bulletin. For people

04:57 who are watching who are saying I'd like to do something to help, what can they do?

05:01 I think that there are a lot of different opportunities to support. ActionAid has raised

05:09 an appeal that is available to donate to and we work together with partner organisations

05:16 that also have different opportunities for supporting. So I think anyone that is able to,

05:23 every little helps and the teams on the ground are desperate to be able to get as much resources

05:30 as possible in order to save as many lives as possible and also to support the important

05:37 aftermath of the catastrophe. Okay, well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us

05:42 in what must be a very difficult time for you. Sarah Alma, Humanitarian Director at

05:46 ActionAid International, thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

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