At an altitude of 1,800 m, Hassan Iskich sits on a rock, among his sheep. From the windswept mountain, the 39-year-old shepherd looks gravely at the ruins of Toulkine below, his village nestled in the heart of the High Atlas, devastated by the earthquake that struck the Moroccan region on September 8. That evening, landslides crashed into the sheepfold, on the ground floor of his house. Sheep are dead, the stable is demolished, and Hassan doesn’t see how to start his life as a pastor again: “I could sell the flock… but I can’t leave the land of my ancestors. »
The earthquake cost the lives of nearly 3,000 people, according to a provisional report, caused considerable material damage and brought agricultural activity, “the basis of life here,” to a halt, explains Hassan Iskich. It is in fact, with livestock breeding, an essential source of food and income for the inhabitants of these arid reliefs who practice it in a traditional way, on small areas, often narrow terraces on the mountainside.
“We’ll have to start all over again.”
In Azgour, 5 km from Toulkine, Brahim Zaboun, 60, languishes in the middle of what was once his little green oasis on the edge of the wadi, made up of apple trees, walnut trees and a vegetable garden to feed his family. The plot is under rubble. “Everything is ruined,” blurted the farmer. We will have to remove the stones, plow… all over again. » A little further away, Omar Wirara, in his sixties, lost almost his entire rabbit farm that he sold in the souk. “I won’t leave here,” he said, “even if I had a villa in Casablanca! But how do you do it without animals? »
On Wednesday September 20, Rabat announced a budget of nearly 11 billion euros for the benefit of the disaster-stricken mountainous areas. In addition to reconstruction, this five-year program should enable the “opening up of isolation”, the “acceleration of the reduction of social deficits” and “the encouragement of economic activity” in these largely disadvantaged regions, according to a press release published in the following a meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI. “Morocco can learn good lessons from this disaster, bounce back towards a more just and equitable development model,” hopes Mohamed Dich, coordinator of the Civil Mountain Coalition, which brings together 120 associations.
A huge project, as the fragilities of these territories are so deep. “In Morocco, the mountains have long been marginalized,” explains geographer Fatima Gebrati. For decades, well before independence, the State had concentrated its efforts on the plains – “useful Morocco”, as opposed to “useless Morocco”, the mountains, according to terminology inherited from colonization. » From the end of the 1990s, these territories have experienced significant transformations under the leadership of public authorities and civil society, continues this High Atlas specialist at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech: “They have been equipped with infrastructure: drinking water, electricity, roads, schools… Tourism has developed there”, facilitated by the proximity to the tourist capital of the country, less than 100 km away.
“Isolation and under-equipment”
In terms of agriculture, the landscape of these valleys has evolved with the introduction of fruit trees. “This allowed many farmers to sell their production on the market; agriculture is no longer exclusively subsistence-producing,” underlines Fatima Gebrati. Other programs have emerged: promotion of local products, fight against deforestation, resilience to climate change, through the establishment of drip irrigation systems or the rehabilitation of seguias, canals traditional irrigation systems. “However, much remains to be done,” observes Ms. Gebrati.
In a 2017 report on mountainous areas, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) pointed out the “limited impacts” of these public policies: they have “certainly contributed to creating favorable conditions to boost the agricultural sector, but do not have not made it possible to improve the standard of living of the populations”, wrote this consultative body at the time. Finally, these areas – a “large part” of which remain “in a state of isolation and detrimental under-equipment” – show a “considerable delay in terms of development”, despite the “potential” of the Moroccan mountains.
Incomes there are half as high as the national average, according to this report. The exodus there is significant. “It is very common to find no young people in these valleys. We often only come across elderly people and children there, because parents go to work in town,” reports Mohamed Taher Sraïri, teacher-researcher at the Agronomic and Veterinary Institute of Rabat, who warns of the risk of an acceleration of departures following the earthquake: “These populations play a major role in maintaining the diversity of mountain ecosystems. If these territories were emptied, it would be catastrophic: everything downstream depends on their balance, he emphasizes. The first emergency is to rebuild lost livestock, a stable source of income and jobs, otherwise people will be forced to leave the region. »
“The weather is sick.”
The rehabilitation of crops promises to be all the more complex as space is lacking, according to Mr. Sraïri, but also water. Because the Atlas is suffering from an inexorable decline in snowfall. “It has been significantly reduced over the last twenty years: the snow comes later, it falls at a higher altitude and lasts less long,” reports Lahoucine Hanich, professor of hydrogeology in Marrakech. “This impacts the entire country, because these mountainous areas constitute the reservoir allowing us to recharge the wadis, the water tables, and to fill the dams in the plains. »
“No snow, no agriculture,” summarizes Mohamed Bounaine, 70, in Azgour, who left to graze his flock of sheep near the wadi. Several years ago, the breeder had decided to sell his cows: “I couldn’t feed them because of the drought. The weather is sick. » His four children left to make their lives in Marrakech. He remained with a donkey and ten sheep. Six now, because the other four are buried under debris. In the ruins of this village, however, a glimmer of hope appeared with the emergence of new springs during the earthquake. The first a few minutes after the earthquake, then another during an aftershock four days later, according to residents. Other sources that had almost dried up saw their flow double or triple.
“This phenomenon was observed in several areas hit by the earthquake,” reports Mr. Hanich, who provides the scientific explanation: “The movement of the fault at the origin of the earthquake had the effect of bringing aquifer reserves to the surface and open circuits allowing water to circulate. » In Azgour, some see in this pure water which flows among the rubble a divine gift, a sign of blessing. At least a reason to get up and look to the future.
