Morocco’s Marrakesh is awakening slowly from the earthquake damage

In the medina of the city beloved by tourists, signs of recovery lie side-by-side with lasting damage.

Marrakesh, Morocco – Like everyone in Marrakesh, 39-year-old Zakaria Lamnichri was surprised when the earthquake hit six months ago.

Speaking from his stall in the centre of the city, the easy flow of his conversation interrupted by queries from browsing tourists, he recalls the tremors he experienced as the magnitude 6.9 earthquake ripped through the nearby mountains, claiming the lives of about 3,000 people.

“The moment, for those who lived it, was horrifying. My wife and son were away in the mountains. I was here. I was terrified for them. For them, that terror lasted for days,” he said, describing how rescuers struggled to reach the small, isolated village where his family was staying and, like many in the High Atlas Mountains, accessible only by donkey or moped.

“No one expected it,” he continued. “No one knew what to do. What affected me especially was the emotional part, of seeing other people’s problems. Of rich people who were left with nothing,” he says, pausing.

“People who had children and lost them.”