Morocco’s post-quake reconstruction in progress- government says

Efforts to rebuild fully or partially demolished homes are underway along with the upgrade of roads, hospitals and schools, the head of the government said a few days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that killed 3000 people mostly in the Atlas mountains.

So far, 55,142 building permits have been handed with 49,632 being rebuilt, the head of the government said in a statement, adding that 1000 homes have been rebuilt.

Reconstruction aid was distributed to 57,805 families for a total cost of 1.2 billion dirhams, notes the statement, while 63,862 quake-affected families have received financial aid.

Roads linking Taroudant to Al Haouz, through Tizi N Tast, and Ouirgane to Tlat N Yaacoub are being upgraded, the same source said.

In total 168 million dirhams has been spent to upgrade 42 health centers across the quake-hit areas, it said.

The government also distributed 28,000 livestock along with 353,830 quintals of barley to 48,581 local farmers.

Meanwhile, 117 million dirhams has been spent to improve water supply, while 3.5 billion dirhams was spent to rebuild and upgrade some 111 schools, the statement added.

Hospitality industry benefited from 144 million dirhams, with 148 guest houses that received a first batch of 48 million dirhams in aid to develop their infrastructure and tourist offer.

Works are also ongoing to restore historical monuments destroyed by the quake, it said.