An assessment team from Malteser International – the Order of Malta’s international relief agency – reached Marrakech on Monday evening and will be working in the Atlas Mountains during the coming days to assess the situation after the earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night.

Malteser International is working together with its local partners to provide urgently needed help and is in close contact with the Embassy of the Order of Malta to Morocco.

“The scale of destruction that I have seen today, especially in the villages in the Atlas Mountains, is severe. In some villages, not a single house has been spared. The people here are now in urgent need of food and drinking water, as well as tents and beds. Many of them simply have nothing left,” says Oliver Hochedez, head of Malteser International’s emergency relief department.

Last weekend, Morocco experienced its worst earthquake in around 100 years. According to current figures, more than 3,000 people died in the 6.8 magnitude earthquake, more than 2,500 are injured. Unicef estimates that around 100,000 children are affected by the impacts.

The Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra’ John Dunlap, has sent a condolence message to the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI on behalf of all the Order.

Photo-Credit: Malteser International