Quebec’s Moroccan community mobilizing to help victims of devastating earthquake

Three days after a devastating earthquake struck Morocco, leaving death and destruction in its wake, Nora Toutain says sitting on the sidelines has been pure agony.

“There’s nothing that I wish more right now than to be on site … and do whatever I can,” said the French-Moroccan singer-songwriter based in Montreal, whose parents and friends are grappling with the ravages in the North African country.

In response to growing feelings of helplessness among members of Montreal’s large Moroccan community, a local college has stepped up to give people like Toutain a chance to help out from here in the city.

Staff and students at Montreal’s LaSalle College set up a collection site at the school Monday for donations to send to those dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.

The 6.8-magnitude quake, the biggest to hit Morocco in more than a century, sent people fleeing their homes in terror and disbelief late Friday. Many survivors spent a third night outside Sunday, their homes destroyed or rendered unsafe. The death toll had climbed to nearly 2,700 as of Monday.

Time running out in frantic search for Morocco quake survivors

CBC’s Chris Brown, reporting from a devastated village in Morocco, says rescue crews are hoping for signs of life, but the window for saving people from the rubble is narrowing.

Adib Lahlou, whose family lives in Rabat, about 300 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake, says he co-organized the collection drive in solidarity with fellow Moroccans.

“We have to help the people that [have] no house now and no clothes,” he said. “We are all Moroccan and we are very, very, very proud to do this campaign to help.”

About 81,000 Canadians from the Moroccan community live in Quebec, and nearly half of that population is in Montreal.

Large bags of clothes and non-perishable foods were collected on opening day of the drive. It will run for two weeks and will accept everything from clothes, mattresses and flashlights to baby supplies, hygiene products and money that will be sent to the Red Cross.

Anyone hoping to donate can pass by the college over the next two weeks from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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Student Fennich Batoul, who heard about the initiative via the college’s Instagram page, says donating to people from her homeland was an obvious course of action.

“This is a hard time for all of us, so if I can help by just giving some clothes and stuff, I’m going to do it,” she said.

Although Batoul says her family members are safe in Casablanca, “we love all our people so we’re going to help all of them.”

‘They still stand together’

Elsewhere across the province, including in Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Drummondville, more Moroccans are coming together to extend help to their community.

Despite still grieving the loss of her cousin, who was killed in the earthquake, Nouzha Enkila is collecting money and camping equipment for those who survived yet are still suffering in the aftermath — including her husband.

Enkila, founder of the Quebec Moroccan Festival in Quebec City, which saw its second iteration of the event last month, was able to keep in close contact with her husband, who told her that the Moroccan people remain united despite the disaster.

“The people, the community, they still stand together,” she said. “They prepare food, they try to help as much as they can.”

The donations Enkila collects will be sent directly to those in need in Morocco, she says.

Seismologist explains what made Morocco’s earthquake so deadly

A rare and powerful earthquake toppled buildings and killed at least 2,000 people in Morocco. Seismology and geophysics expert John Cassidy explains what made this particular quake so destructive and deadly.

Morrocan-born geologist Merouan Rachidi also wanted to get his hands dirty. In partnership with several community groups, including the Association des Marocaines et Marocains de l’Université Laval, he’s collected money and warm clothing to send to those in need.

“Fall is on its way, and it’s a mountainous area with more difficult conditions,” Rachidi said of the villages that were hit hardest by the quake.

He says a donation drive is also planned for Friday at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City and urges the public to donate to international aid organizations, such as the Red Cross.

For Mohammed Soulami, of the organization Actions interculturelles, seeing the harrowing images from his home country drove him to set up a fundraising campaign in Sherbrooke.

“We are more and more affected because we see the scale of the disaster. So we feel a little helpless. We tell ourselves that we really have to find every possibility of helping,” he said.

Charity to sponsor orphaned children

Mohamed Moutahir, president of Orphan Sun — a Canadian charity based in Montreal that helps orphans in Morocco and other North African countries — says his organization will sponsor all children orphaned by the disaster.

The charity is also raising funds to provide immediate assistance to earthquake victims.

“On the short term, we have to assist immediately the people affected by the earthquake, to provide food, to provide blankets, tents,” he said.

In the long-term, Moutahir says aid must be provided to help rebuild schools and houses before the arrival of winter.

Canada is one of several countries that have offered support to Morocco in the aftermath of the devastation, but the country has not issued a formal request for help.

So far, however, Morocco has accepted offers of aid from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.