Moroccans living in Manitoba are finding ways to help after major earthquake hits country

Manitoba’s Moroccan community is finding ways to support family and friends after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake devastated the Marrakesh area Friday.

Horrifying scenes out of Morocco, as rescue efforts work around the clock in hopes of finding survivors underneath rubble.

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• READ MORE: Powerful quake in Morocco kills more than 1,000 people and damages historic buildings in Marrakech

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“Overnight, people lost their homes, belongings, it’s just so sad,” said Mouhssine Chioua, has family living in Morocco.

Hassan and Mouhssine Chioua moved to Winnipeg from Morocco in 2004. They have family and friends who still live in Morocco, including their parents. Hassan was just in Morocco in July, and said he never thought anything like this would happen to his home country.

“My mom said they felt a little shake. My city is Tangiers, so nothing major, but most of the region that really got hit is the rural areas,” explained Hassan Chioua.

Mouhssine is happy his family, for the most part, is safe, but says he is still in a state of shock with everything that has happened.

“There is a lot of rescue happening right now and I think they are finding survivors each hour that goes by. There are still some survivors. It’s been difficult,” said Mouhssine.

Karim Ammoumou’s family also lives in Morocco and says the first few hours after the earthquake were hard, as phone and internet lines were down.

“They are far, about 400-500 km away from the epicentre, they are located in Casablanca, yet they still felt it. They had to evacuate and spend the night outside, fearing there was going to be an aftershock. We also have friends in the most hit areas, including Marrakesh. I have lots of friends who live there,” said Ammoumou.

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Ammoumou owns a Moroccan-cosmetic company, and many of his suppliers and business partners live and work in the Atlas region. He says he has been able to get a hold of some of the people he works with but finding out information of any kind has been tough.

Philip Houde, the Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Morocco in Manitoba was just in Morocco in June. He says the local Moroccan community is planning a fundraiser in the coming days to send aid over to those in need.

“Right now, it’s hard to say what the needs are in Morocco. We are getting information out of there. We are not sure 100 per cent what on the ground they need. As that starts to develop, we will probably have more specific request in terms of what the drive will be. It will probably be things like clothing, tents, sleeping bags and things like that,” said Houde. “Just a very horrific situation in Morocco.”