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Morocco survivors seek aid as earthquake toll passes 2,100

Published

3 weeks ago

September 11, 2023

Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades struggled to find food and water on Sunday as the search for the missing continued in hard-to-reach villages and the death toll of more than 2,100 seemed likely to rise further.

Many people spent a second night in the open after the 6.8 magnitude quake hit late on Friday.

Relief workers face the challenge of reaching the worst-affected villages in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled.

The death toll climbed to 2,122 while the count of injured rose to 2,421, many seriously, according to official figures updated late on Sunday by the interior ministry.

Moroccan media reported the collapse of a historically important 12th century mosque, underlining damage to the country’s cultural heritage. The quake also damaged parts of Marrakech old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In Moulay Brahim, a village near the epicentre 40km south of Marrakech, residents described how they had dug the dead from the rubble using their bare hands.

“We lost our houses and we lost people also and we are sleeping like two days outside,” said 36-year-old Yassin Noumghar, a Moulay Brahim resident.

Complaining of shortages of water, food and power, Noumghar said he had received little government aid so far. “We want just for our government to help us,” he said, expressing a frustration voiced by others.

Later, sacks of food were unloaded from a truck which local official Mouhamad al-Hayyan said had been organised by the government and civil society organisations.

Twenty-five bodies had been brought to Moulay Brahims small medical clinic, according to staff there who warned they were starting to face a shortage of some first aid supplies.

With many homes built of mud bricks and timber, structures in the area crumbled easily.

It was Morocco’s deadliest earthquake since 1960 when a quake was estimated to have killed at least 12,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey.

Makeshift tents had been erected on a dirt soccer pitch.

Residents were wrapped in blankets after spending the night outside.

One man, who was salvaging mattresses and clothes from his wrecked home, said he believed his neighbours were still under the rubble.

In the village of Amizmiz, 27km west of Moulay Brahim, residents also struggled to find food.

“We used blankets to make a tent,” said Ali Ait Youssef. “The tents the government distributed are not enough.”

The government said on Saturday it was taking urgent measures to address the disaster including reinforcing search and rescue teams, providing drinking water and distributing food, tents and blankets.

France said it stood ready to help and was awaiting a formal request from Morocco.

“France is ready to offer its aid to Morocco if Morocco decides it is useful,” President Emmanuel Macron said at the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

“The second they request this aid, it will be deployed,” he added.

Other countries offering assistance include Turkey, where earthquakes in February killed more than 50,000 people. By Sunday, the Turkish team had not yet departed.

Spain, however, said it had on Sunday received a formal request from Morocco for assistance and would be sending search and rescue teams.

Qatar also said its search and rescue team had departed for Morocco.

“The next 2-3 days will be critical for finding people trapped under the rubble,” Caroline Holt, global director of operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Reuters.

She said the international aid system has been waiting for an invitation from Morocco to assist, adding this was not necessarily unusual as the government assesses needs.

A spokesperson for Morocco’s government did not immediately respond to Reuters phone calls seeking comment.

The latest casualty figures from the Interior Ministry, released late on Saturday, put the death toll at 2,012, with 2,059 people injured, including 1,404 in critical condition.

The World Health Organisation said more than 300,000 people have been affected by the disaster.

Pope Francis offered prayers and solidarity for the victims.

Morocco has declared three days of mourning and King Mohammed VI called for prayers for the dead to be held at mosques across the country.

The quake’s epicentre was 72km southwest of Marrakech, a city beloved of Moroccans and foreign tourists for its medieval mosques, palaces and seminaries richly adorned with vivid mosaic tiling amid a labyrinth of rose-hued alleyways.

Marrakech is due to host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank from October 9.

An IMF spokesperson, asked on Saturday about the planned meetings, said: “Our sole focus at this time is on the people of Morocco and the authorities who are dealing with this tragedy.”

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News

Trump business empire under threat as New York fraud trial opens

Published

22 mins ago

October 2, 2023

callumbryne

Former US president Donald Trump will appear in a New York court on Monday as a civil fraud trial against him and two of his sons kicks off, with the case threatening the Republican’s business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House.

In Monday’s case, Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr committed fraud by inflating the value of the real estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is now seeking $250 million in penalties and the removal of Trump and his sons from management of the family empire.

Trump said late Sunday he planned to be present for the start of the trial on Monday morning.

“I’m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation,” the 77-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform. “This whole case is a sham!!!”

In addition to this civil case, Trump also faces several major criminal proceedings in the months ahead.

He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on March 4 on charges of trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.

Trump will then be back in New York state court, this time on criminal hush money charges, and later in a Florida federal court, where he is accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving office.

Finally, he will also have to answer to state charges in Georgia, where prosecutors say Trump illegally tried to get the southern state’s 2020 election results changed in his favor.

In the New York civil case, Engoron ruled that Trump, his two eldest sons, and other Trump Organisation executives lied to tax collectors, lenders, and insurers for years in a scheme that exaggerated the value of their properties by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.

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As a result, the judge revoked the business licenses that allowed the Trump Organisation to operate some of its New York properties.

Actually enforcing such penalties would be “a major blow to Donald Trump’s ability to do business in the State of New York going forward,” Will Thomas, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan, told AFP.

Under that kind of pressure, Trump — who made his reputation and fortune as a real estate mogul in the 1980s and had promised to bring his cut-throat industry tactics to the Oval Office — could eventually lose control over many of his company’s flagship properties, such as his 5th Avenue Trump Tower in Manhattan.

According to Attorney General James, a Democrat, Trump’s own apartment in that building is among the spaces that were fraudulently overvalued — it was listed as three times bigger than its true size.

Another Manhattan building, at 40 Wall Street, was overvalued between $200-$300 million in financial disclosures, James alleges.

Trump’s luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida — the site of the classified documents drama — and several other Trump Organisation golf clubs also appear in James’s complaint.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the New York civil allegations, calling James, who is Black, “racist,” and labeling Engoron “deranged.”

On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed there was no “wrongdoing” in his actions of “fully paying back sophisticated Wall Street Banks in full, with interest, with no defaults, and with no victims.”

There are likely to be dozens of witnesses called to testify at the trial, including Trump himself, and former financial director of the Trump Organisation Allen Weisselberg, who served time in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud in a separate case brought against the business.

Trump’s children Eric, Don Jr, and his oldest daughter Ivanka — who was initially also targeted by James’s complaint but ultimately not prosecuted — are also likely to present their own testimony.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen — now an outspoken critic of the former president — and officials from certain Trump-linked financial institutions are also expected to appear.

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News

At least 38 injured in police station fire in Egypt’s Ismailia

Published

33 mins ago

October 2, 2023

callumbryne

A huge fire broke out at a police headquarters in the Egyptian city of Ismailia on Monday, injuring at least 38 people, according to local media.

No fatalities were immediately reported but the building is staffed by soldiers at all hours and hospitals were placed on alert.

Footage on local media showed smoke rising from the entirely blackened multi-storey building.

The cause of the blaze, which broke out at the headquarters of the Ismailia Security Directorate before dawn, is not yet known.

Of 26 wounded who were transferred to a local hospital, 24 had suffered from “asphyxiation” and two from burns, local media reported citing the health ministry.

Twelve more were treated at the scene.

The health ministry deployed 50 ambulances to the scene, which were joined by military emergency services including two planes, according to state media.

Deadly fires are a common hazard in Egypt, where fire codes are rarely enforced and emergency services are often slow to arrive.

In August 2022, a fire caused by a short circuit killed 41 worshippers in a Cairo church, prompting calls to improve the country’s infrastructure and the response time of the fire brigade.

In March 2021, at least 20 people died in a fire at a textile factory in the capital, while in 2020, two hospital fires killed 14 people.

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Annual inflation rises to 31.4pc amid high energy prices

Published

55 mins ago

October 2, 2023

callumbryne

Pakistan’s annual inflation rate rose to 31.4 per cent in September from 27.4pc in August, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as the country reels from high fuel and energy prices.

The country is embarking on a tricky path to economic recovery under a caretaker government after a $3 billion loan programme approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July averted a sovereign debt default, but with conditions that complicated efforts to rein in inflation.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation climbed 2pc in September, compared to an increase of 1.7pc in August. Reforms required by the IMF bailout, including an easing of import restrictions and a demand that subsidies be removed, have already fuelled annual inflation, which rose to a record 38pc in May.

Food inflation remained elevated at 33.1pc with the year-on-year increase in non-perishable food items at 38.4pc and 4.37pc for perishable food items.

Annual consumer inflation in urban and rural areas increased to 29.7pc and 33.9pc year-on-year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the highest year-on-year increase was recorded in the categories of alcoholic beverages and tobacco (87.45pc), recreation and culture (58.77pc), furnishing and household equipment maintenance (39.32pc) and non-perishable food items.

Index-wise increase in inflation YoY (in descending order)

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco: 87.45pc
Recreation and culture: 58.77pc
Furnishing and household equipment maintenance: 39.32pc
Non-perishable food items: 38.41pc
Miscellaneous goods and services: 36.42pc
Restaurants and hotels: 34.3pc
Transport: 31.26pc
Housing and utilities: 29.7pc
Health: 25.28pc
Clothing and footwear: 20.55pc
Education: 11.12pc
Communication: 7.42pc
Perishable food items: 4.37pc

Interest rates have also risen to their highest at 22pc, and the rupee hit all-time lows in August before recovering in September to become the best performing currency following a clampdown by authorities on unregulated FX trade.

On Friday, the ministry of finance said in its monthly report that it anticipated inflation remaining high in the coming month, hovering around 29-31pc due to an upward adjustment in energy tariffs and a major increase in fuel prices.

The report added that inflation was, however, expected to ease, especially from the second half of the current fiscal year that starts on Jan 1.

On Saturday, the government cut petrol and diesel prices from a record high, after two consecutive hikes. The finance ministry cited international prices of petroleum products and the improvement in the exchange rate, following the clampdown on unregulated FX trade.

Inflation has been elevated, hovering in double digits, since November 2021.
The country targeted inflation at 21pc for the current fiscal year, but it averaged 29pc during the first quarter.

Worsening economic conditions, along with rising political tensions in the run-up to a national election scheduled for November, triggered sporadic protests in September, with many Pakistanis saying they are struggling to make ends meet.

Analysts said the inflation reading was in line with market expectations.

Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, a Karachi-based investment company, said inflation appeared to have peaked for the current fiscal year and would subsequently recede.

“The higher reading is mainly due to the low base effect which was also mentioned in the last monetary policy statement. Going forward, in the next few months, we expect inflation to ease to around 26-27pc,” said Fahad Rauf, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, a Karachi-based brokerage firm.

Rauf said higher inflation statistics should not impact monetary policy.

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