Morocco's remote mountain villages suffered the greatest devastation during last week's powerful earthquake. They can only be reached by narrow mountain roads, making it difficult to deliver vital aid, let alone building materials.
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00:00 Just a few kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake in the high Atlas Mountains,
00:05 Ibrahim takes us to see what remains of his house.
00:09 When we enter, he warns us not to touch the walls, worried that the roof will come down
00:13 on our heads.
00:14 Ibrahim, resident of the village of Khajur, says, "Doesn't this look dangerous?
00:17 From time to time, I go in and out, in and out, from the house to get things we need,
00:22 as if I'm a burglar."
00:27 Looking at the state of the rooms, it's hard to imagine how anyone escaped unhurt when
00:31 disaster struck.
00:32 But they did.
00:33 Ibrahim, his wife, and his two children.
00:36 "Things here fell in front of me, and I ran to get out.
00:39 I held onto this wall while everything was shaking, and I said, 'God help me, God help
00:45 me.'"
00:46 It's also hard to imagine he could ever rebuild.
00:48 Ibrahim constructed this place with his own hands, but the task of making it once again
00:52 safe to live in is beyond his means, he says.
00:56 The Moroccan government announced a fund to help people like Ibrahim.
00:59 Eighty thousand dirham, or about 8,000 euros to make repairs, and 140,000 dirham, or about
01:05 14,000 euros to build a new home.
01:10 News of the fund hasn't made it to him yet, but Ibrahim says he could certainly use the
01:14 assistance.
01:15 "I would only be able to fix this if I get help, because I have nowhere else to go.
01:23 I have no other land to build and nowhere else to go."
01:29 Making an application for the funding will take time.
01:32 So will shipping tons of concrete and other building supplies up narrow mountain roads.
01:36 Basic aid like food and water are still the priority, as most of the village's survivors
01:41 are living in tent camps, including Ibrahim and his family.
01:47 For now, Ibrahim is using his skills and a small reserve of concrete to build a decent
01:52 toilet for his camp.
01:54 For his children, it's practice for when the real work of rebuilding begins.
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