Four weeks after an earthquake knocked down much of his neighborhood, Rachid Alachoun now eagerly awaits client calls from the garage where he works on damaged appliances.
The 40-year-old plumber has sporadically found jobs throughout Amizmiz, a town of 14,000 people near the earthquake’s epicenter, but there isn’t as much work as before.
That could soon change, however, as the community prepares to rebuild. Architects and government adminstrators have surveyed damaged households, writing down the phone numbers of those entitled to emergency rehousing assistance in the near future and rebuilding funds for the longer term.
Moroccan authorities said Friday that they had begun providing money to those whose homes were destroyed. In Amizmiz, residents who provide authorities phone numbers are awaiting text messages with codes they can take to mobile banking units erected near the town’s center.
After a commission tasked by King Mohammed VI to oversee recovery efforts met earlier this week, the government said initial monthly payments of 2,500 Moroccan dirhams ($242) would be disbursed starting Oct. 6.
While the rest of his family relocated to a nearby tent city for displaced people, Alachoun is living in one part of his mostly destroyed former home. His family has received a tent and doesn’t lack for food, clothing or other immediate needs, but they worry as winter looms.
“We don’t have two or three years to wait for the government to build,” he said. The Sept. 8 earthquake wreaked havoc on rural regions south of Marrakech, where some mountain roads remain unpaved and the economy relies on herding and small-scale agriculture.
As autumn nights get cooler, many are sleeping outside in donated tents with the daunting task of rebuilding before them.
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