Christians in Morocco have formed a group to coordinate their response. In the area around Marrakesh, they focus on assisting looking for survivors under the rubble and help “families who have suffered losses”.
Many houses in neighbouring villages in the Atlas Mountains have been destroyed. / Courtesy of Andrés Prins.
An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale has shaken the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, leaving at least 2,500 dead and 3,000 injured. Rescue teams continue to search for people under the rubble. The epicentre of the quake was in the village of Iguil, located 63 kilometres southwest of the busy tourist city of Marrakech, which has suffered damage to its cultural heritage.
So far, the Moroccan government has accepted aid from four countries of the international community: Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, while the Moroccan Interior Ministry says it is still studying other offers of help it is receiving. Even neighbouring Algeria, with which Morocco has had a diplomatic conflict for years, has offered its support, assuring that it will open its airspace to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid.
“Many old houses in Marrakech and especially in the villages in the Atlas Mountains have suffered significant damage”, Andrés Prins, a Christian living Morocco, told Spanish news website Protestante Digital. “We are fine. Only a few things have fallen down in our house”, he added.
[photo_footer]At least 2,500 people have died. / Courtesy of Andrés Prins [/photo_footer]
When the earth shook, “we were 64 kilometres southeast of Marrakesh visiting acquaintances with Christian friends who had come from Rabat”, said Andrés. “We saw some of the devastation, which is much worse in Amizmiz, where we now plan to bring humanitarian aid with some local Christians”.
According to this Christian, in Marrakesh “a coordination group has been formed which has been bringing in more people and agencies, mostly of Christian inspiration, and also with the participation of international churches”. “The main local church here is helping as much as it can, although without clearly identifying itself as Christian”, he says.
Morocco ranks as the 29th most hostile country for Christians according to the annual Open Doors World Watch List.
The focus of the aid being organised, says Andrés, is “to provide assistance to those who are already working”, and as far as possible also “to the families who have suffered losses”.
Evangelical organisations established in Spain told Protestante Digital that they have begun to contact colleagues in Morocco to explore ways of offering relief. The Christian missionary agency PM International and the Ibero-American network Comibam have already launched an aid campaign.
Zaza Lima, a Christian worker based in Spain who knows Morocco very well after living in the North African country for a long time, says this is a moment “for the Spanish churches to embrace the neighbouring country in its pain, with respect, and to affirm the dignity of the people and accompany them”.
“May the church in Spain be a church that accompanies in pain and that in its closeness to Morocco embodies an attitude of generosity, presence and love [...] May we from Spain embrace the people of Morocco in their pain with the embrace of the accompanying God. May we, as a community that loves, incarnate this love for Morocco”, she said.
[photo_footer]Christians in the area have begun to organise aid. / Photo courtesy of Andrés Prins [/photo_footer]
The community of Christian workers serving in the country share the pain of the circumstances, but do not lose sight of the opportunity to speak of hope. “We have the opportunity to bring our help and the light and the hope of the message of Jesus”, added Andrés from Marrakech.
[analysis]
[title]Ferede: “We join in the prayers of all believers”[/title]
[text]In Spain, the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities (Ferede) has expresed its “condolences and solidarity to the Moroccan people”, referring in particular to “the families directly affected” by the earthquake.
“We encourage our churches and social entities that have the possibility of offering some practical, material or spiritual help, to do so with the solidarity, love and thoroughness that characterise them, using the safe channels so that this help reaches the people and families who need it most”, the federation says.
This Protestante federation also joins “the prayers of all believers, inside and outside Morocco, so that the consolation, peace, hope and strength that only God can offer [...] may be the effective resources for the material, spiritual and spiritual reconstruction of the country”.[/text].
[/analysis]
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