A DAY INTO THE HIGH ATLAS: AMIZMIZ REVISITED
A DAY INTO THE HIGH ATLAS: AMIZMIZ REVISITED
RECOVERY SIGNS FROM THE SEPTEMBER 2026 EARTHQUAKE
Today’s journey was south from Marrakech to Amizmiz, a rural town situated on the lower slopes of the High Atlas peaks and their deep valleys. It is about an hour’s drive from Marrakech. The High Atlas experienced a significant earthquake in September 2023, force 6.8 on the Richter Scale. The devastation to buildings, land, families and communities was simply huge. Estimated loss of human lives is 3,300+.
I recall vividly visiting this area a week or two after the event and on a few occasions after that. These visits were to deliver some aid in the form of medicines, food and, indeed, many hand knitted woolly hats. As I described then, the stoicism of the people was remarkable. They were just getting on with life as best they could, knowing that, in time, with good, positive endeavour, there would be a rebound to life as it used to be pre-earthquake. How humbling I recall the invitations to drink tea, to eat bread, cakes and tagines from the wonderful Berbers who now, for many hundreds of them, were living in tents (and with a High Atlas winter approaching) and surrounded by their demolished or greatly fractured homes.
Today’s visit was to see how life now was, 2 ½ years later. It was to be yet another eyeopener.
We first travelled out from Marrakech across the level Marrakech Plain. There was a remarkable amount of on-going city expansion to be seen. Vast areas of new apartment blocks were everywhere, spreading to the west, the south and to the east. New mosques, new schools and zones too of upmarket villas, all with their Sales Offices offering great new lifestyles.
Eventually, on leaving the last vestiges of Marrakech’s present expansion, it was back to countryside. And how green and golden it all was looking. The last winter rains have brought drought-stricken land back to full production. Just add water and everything changes. Cereal crops carpeted the plain’s floor and olive groves and orchards (including grapes) were bountiful. The greens were rich, the trees looked healthy and the cereal crops were starting to turn a golden hue; only a few weeks till the harvest can begin.
Suddenly the land began to gently rise, the road began to have sweeping curves and we entered Amizmiz; and how bright, colourful and lively it was all looking. A transformation had certainly taken place, you could feel it, even before seeing it.
Where are all the tents, the yellow plastic ones, the blue plastic ones (from the Government and Aid Agencies) and the ones made from blankets/plastic sheets/card/wood that were everywhere in late 2023 and throughout 2024? I didn’t see any, all gone. This was most encouraging.
At the time of the earthquake the Moroccan Government was very good and speedy in getting short term aid and support in to the area – provisions, tents and “get you by” money. But they had also promised long term aid but that this would need careful consideration in order that it would be used wisely and achieve its aim (that was, to bring back this community to be thriving and alive once again).
Passing through Amizmiz, all around were many signs of progress. Demolished and cleared sites, rebuilt/repaired buildings, new buildings and all being done with top quality and care so that the refreshed area looked absolutely terrific. Colourful paints on outer walls and small attentions to detailing to make a building look really smart had been done. Pride and community endeavour simply shone though in this recovering town.
All new buildings have had to be built based on Government supplied plans, not to offer uniformity (there were many house designs from which you could chose) but to ensure a pleasing, cohesive townscape once all had been completed. Reassuring too was to see the high quality of the cement blocks being used for the building work as well as the abundance of steel reinforcing rods being incorporated into all new structures. Strict new building standards were lain down by the Government and have been regularly inspected to ensure adherence to them.
We then drove out of Amizmiz and journeyed ever upwards and through many of the surrounding small Berber villages. Here too was the same evidence of recovery. Already some of the rebuilt/new properties even had lain out gardens with grass, trees and shrubs. Life was returning to what it once was. We were heading to see a friend, a Mountain Guide, whom we knew had made great steps in building a new home for his own immediate family as well as other homes for his family members. His new home looks great, has character, looks very strong and already has a homely my feel to it. And, guess what, on arrival … “Hello. Welcome. Come in – have some tea and patisserie and lunch will soon follow”. Same warmth, same hospitality, same humanity; simply wonderful.
What a lunch it was too. A fresh salad plate as well as a lentils plate for starters followed by a chicken tagine with carmalised onions and sweetened with sultanas. Of course, bread accompanied the tagine but not just any bread, it was Berber bread, bread baked in a traditional clay oven in the garden. All this then fruits and, of course, tea, always delicious tea!
An accompanying treat to all this hospitality was the outdoor soundscape; with the house sitting up-slope of the river that flows down to Amizmiz, and with the winter rains and melting snows still feeding it, the babbling brook noises and the many chirping birds was as equally delicious to listen to as the food was to consume. Amizmiz opens all the senses; stop, pause, open up your senses and savour them all.
With this Amizmiz recovery programme well under way, the boost for local businesses and employment is remarkable. Sellers of cement, building blocks, timber, steel, plumbing items, electrical fittings … this list goes on. And then the demand for builders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters … the list goes on. This creates jobs, this provides wages, this leads to spending power so other businesses boom.
Further, tourism is back, in a big way. Demand is very high once again. The spectacular landscape is ideal for all types of walks and hikes, short and easy, long and demanding. The options to either have a lunch or a stay overnight with a Berber family is a delightful experience and brings in well-deserved income to the Berbers.
It was with greatly uplifted hearts that we returned in the late afternoon to Marrakech. What had been seen and experienced was most encouraging. Of course, there is still a lot to be done to erase all the physical impacts of the earthquake but with time this will happen. However, the earthquake has had a huge social impact on individual families and rural communities. This will take a much longer period of time to fade (although never fully heal). The horror, the pain, the injuries, the human loss of that terrible September 2023 night will take a generation or two to fade into distant memory and then become a historical story in the life and times of the wonderful Berber people of the Morocco’s High Atlas.
