Geneva, 12 September 2023 - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has launched an emergency appeal for 100 million Swiss Francs to further scale up relief efforts of the Moroccan Red Crescent.
More than three days after the earthquake hit Morocco, aid is reaching more remote locations, but conditions are challenging. Since the disaster hit on Friday night, Moroccan Red Crescent teams have been working with Moroccan authorities. They are supporting search and rescue operations, providing first aid and psychosocial support, helping transport the injured to hospitals and evacuating people from damaged buildings, and providing food and water.
Within 24 hours of the earthquake, we approved one million Swiss Francs from our Disaster Response Emergency Fund (the DREF) to support the Moroccan Red Crescent in their actions to provide immediate locally sourced relief.
The emergency appeal we launch today will support the Moroccan Red Crescent work on both the most pressing needs and the medium-term temporary solutions. These include health, clean water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, relief items and basic needs (food, household essentials), livelihoods, protection and community engagement.
The IFRC Secretary General, Jagan Chapagain, said
“The IFRC is launching this appeal to harness the goodwill shown by so many towards the people of Morocco. The needs on the ground are great and will only grow over coming days and weeks.
We ask partners and donors to continue to show solidarity with the people of Morocco and to help scale up our collective support to those communities hit by the earthquake. This emergency response is a marathon, not a sprint: people affected by the earthquake will need support for weeks and months to come. We will need to support them not only now, but in the future. Such a vast-scale earthquake needs long-lasting and sustainable support.”
More information
On the IFRC website, you can find a regularly updated webpage on the emergency response.
Photos are available here.
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In Geneva:
Tommaso Della Longa: +41 79 708 43 67
Andrew Thomas: +41 76 367 65 87
In Beirut:
Mey Alsayegh: +961 3 229 352
