Pakistan stands in solidarity with Morocco: H.E. Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri

Abdullah Jan

Canberra: Pakistani High Commissioner to Australia Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said this week that Pakistan stands in solidarity with Morocco after the devastating earthquake.

“We stand in solidarity with Morocco in the wake of devastating earthquake. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the affected families and we wish quick recovery to the injured. Best wishes for ongoing recovery efforts,” he said in a statement.

Last week, a rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing from their beds into the streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such force.

More than 2,000 people were killed, and the toll was expected to rise as rescuers struggled to reach hard-hit remote areas.

The magnitude-6.8 quake, the biggest to hit the North African country in 120 years, sent people fleeing their homes in terror and disbelief late Friday. One man said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people were knocked off their feet. The quake brought down walls made from stone and masonry, covering whole communities with rubble.

The devastation gripped each town along the High Atlas’ steep and winding switchbacks in similar ways: homes folding in on themselves and mothers and fathers crying as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.

Remote villages like those in the drought-stricken Ouargane Valley were largely cut off from the world when they lost electricity and cellphone service. By midday, people were outside mourning neighbors, surveying the damage on their camera phones and telling one another “May God save us.”