Montreal’s Moroccan community grieving victims of fatal earthquake

Moroccan Montrealers were in a state of shock and left grieving this weekend after an earthquake killed more than 2,000 people and injured hundreds more.

The quake’s epicentre was about 70 kilometres southwest of Marrakech. It struck at 11:11 p.m. local time Friday night.

At Café Amistad in Montreal’s Little Maghreb neighbourhood, members of the Moroccan community told CityNews they were devastated by news of the quake.

“I was so upset,” said Abdelouahed El Kaoui. “The entire Moroccan community here in Montreal was shocked. I have had lots of messages from all my Quebec friends asking for information on what happened in Morocco.”

Montreal has Canada’s largest Moroccan community. Many have family and friends living in Morocco.

“I called also my family in Marrakech, they told me that there is no harm because they left the home,” said Ismail El Baamrani. “And surprisingly, and also by luck, they weren’t really in the medina.

“I’m shocked first, and I don’t know how to describe it. You are so far away from your family.”

Checking in on loved ones

Rafiq Hamdoun’s first reaction was also to pick up the phone and check on his loved ones.

“My first feelings was to ask after my family to call them, see if everything’s OK in my city,” he said. “I thank God that my city was a bit far. But I feel very bad for the people who are living near the spot where the earthquake hit hard.

“I pray for the families lost and for the death and for people who lost their friends, family members there. And I hope that this brings the Moroccan government to think deeply about the families living in the countryside, living in the region where unfortunately there is no access to the basic needs for life.”

Another client at Café Amistad, Ayoub Rifki, said he would like to see the international community provide support for the earthquake victims.

“I was a little bit scared because I have a lot of family there,” said Rifki, a French Moroccan. ‘But we were lucky that they are in Casablanca.”

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Those at the popular café Sunday agreed people needed to band together to help Moroccans in need.

“The general feeling here in the Moroccan community: we are ready to contribute by anything we could do,” said Hamdoun. “So morally or physically… we’re staying like close to the news, calling families there, helping.

“We try to stay together.”

“We are here, we are here in Montreal. We can help them,” added Mouslih Yassine.

Montreal city councillor in Morocco

Montreal city councillor Serge Sasseville was on vacation not far from Marrakech when the earthquake hit.

“That was really a scary sensation,” he told CityNews. “It was as if I thought somebody was making a joke and just taking off the carpet, under my feet. But it was not that. So it lasted I don’t know how long, maybe a minute. The power went out and we were all not in the dark because there were a lot of candles, but we were all in shock, shaken, wondering what was happening.”

Sasseville said no one was hurt where he was staying. There have been no reported injuries or deaths among Canadians citizens in Morocco.

The city councillor acknowledged, with Montreal having such a large Moroccan community, chances are many people are in some way affected.

“We have a big good Moroccan community in Canada and mainly in Montreal,” said Sasseville. “And I assume that some of those Moroccans have families or friends that were wounded or died in this earthquake. I just want to tell them that my heart is with them.”

1/2 Visite dans la médina de Marrakech cet après-midi, là où le tremblement de terre a causé le plus de dommages dans la ville. Certains immeubles sont très endommagés, d’autres écroulés mais la vie reprend lentement son cours. Il y a une grosse opération de nettoyage. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/W6g1E92Ks9

— Serge Sasseville (il/lui-he/him) (@SergeSasseville) September 10, 2023