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.