Far from the frenzy of Marrakech and at an altitude of 1,700 metres, life in Ardouz, in the Moroccan High Atlas, was difficult but “simple and calm”. When the earthquake hit this town, its remoteness was a double punishment, and it delayed the arrival of help.
The rescuers arrived in Allat, near the town, about eight hours after the September 8 earthquake. The epicenter is about ten kilometers in a straight line behind one of the peaks that dominate the place.
The wait was shorter than in other locations, some of which are still inaccessible by car. But it was “horrible,” explains Abdelakim Hosaini, a 26-year-old cook, who was with a friend when the disaster trapped the 200 inhabitants.
The tremor made him “jump a meter, and when I understood what was happening I ran to my mother’s house,” he says. She was already dead and so was her grandparents.
Then they continued long hours of “helplessness”, says. “We put the wounded in blankets. We couldn’t do anything else.”