A Richmond resident is still reeling in shock after news of a devastating earthquake that hit Morroco last week - just days after she left the country.
Zineb Cader had just returned home after visiting relatives a few days before the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the High Atlas Mountains shook the city of Marrakech on Sept. 8.
“There’s quite some damage, so seeing it and how I saw it when I left… there’s a bit of trauma thinking about what would have happened if my flight was delayed three or four days,” said Cader.
“It is a shock, but we can’t do anything about it when it comes to nature.”
B.C.’s Morocco House Association has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help earthquake victims in Morocco.
The association is aiming to raise $450,000 to help the 300,000-plus people who have been affected by the natural disaster.
More than 2,000 people died and thousands were reported injured, with numbers still on the rise, explained Cader, who is also vice-president of the Morocco House Association.
“Emotionally, the local Moroccan community is still in shock with the devasting news,” said Cader.
Seeing the “earthquake and children losing their parents is really sad,” she added.
“We’re still trying to cope with it and we’re trying our best to be busy and not think about the negative side and be united to do what we can for the people who are still alive now.”
Cader described the people of Morocco as “very united” with everyone in the country lending a helping hand despite the area of impact still being unstable.
“There is still movement in the mountains with lots of rubble preventing search and rescue efforts, so there are a lot of challenges right now,” she said.
“We trust our king and our government to help and we are hoping to do our part here financially to support in a way that we can too.”
