Professor Aomar Boum – “Resilience Amidst the Ruins: Nfis Valley Endures After the Quake”

Professor Aomar Boum, alongside with Sarah A. Stein, released their article “Resilience Amidst the Ruins: Nfis Valley Endures After the Quake”.

In the wake of the tragic, magnitude-6.8 Adassil earthquake in Morocco that killed more than 2,100 people, media attention has largely focused on the devastation in the old city of Marrakesh, one of Morocco’s four imperial capitals and a popular tourism destination. But the epicenter of the quake lay to the east of this red-walled city, in the High Atlas Mountains. Death and destruction in and around the southern and northern slopes of these mountains and their numerous village communities — throughout the provinces of Taroudant, Chichaoua, Haouz, Ouarzazate and Marrakesh — was on a far greater scale than in the neighboring city of Marrakesh. This is so not only because these rural regions were situated squarely on the quake’s fault line, but because Morocco’s infrastructure-building projects, especially roads, have largely passed them by.

Like many countries throughout the Mediterranean, Morocco is prone to earthquakes. In the northern Rif region near the Mediterranean Sea, earthquakes are a regular occurrence, including major quakes in February 2004 and January 2016. The oldest recorded and most devastating earthquakes occurred in Fez (in 1522 and 1624), Meknes (1755) and Tetouan (1909). The 1755 quake in Meknes killed thousands, destroyed the city, damaged the Roman site of Volubilis, and shook nearby Moulay Idris Zerhoun.

Since Morocco became an independent state in 1956, the single most tragic earthquake was in 1960, in the coastal city of Agadir. The devastation occurred during the month of Ramadan, killed thousands of Moroccans, both Jews and Muslims, and leveled the city.

At this time of crisis, we should honor the High Atlas Mountains’ culture and communities, and let its residents guide the rebuilding of their communities.

 

Continue to read their article here: https://themarkaz.org/resilience-amidst-the-ruins-nfis-valley-endures-after-the-quake/