In a heart-wrenching video captured by a guest, the world witnessed the harrowing moment a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck. The footage began with scenes of musicians clad in traditional attire, enchanting the crowd with flute melodies and the rhythmic beats of handheld goatskin drums. However, in an instant, the jubilation transformed into chaos, shrouded in darkness and punctuated by the chilling sounds of fear.
Standing beside his wife, still adorned in their wedding attire nearly four days after their world crumbled, Boudad shared the overwhelming dread that enveloped him while he anxiously waited in his own village. “We wanted to celebrate. Then the quake hit. I didn’t know whether to worry about her village or mine,” he confessed, his grip on his wife’s hand conveying the depth of his concern. With a shy smile, he revealed their union as something “brought together by fate.” Ajdir, his wife, too traumatized by the earthquake, withdrew from speaking with strangers.
The impoverished village of Ighil Ntalghoumt, their home, lay in ruins, leaving its inhabitants homeless. Remarkably, unlike other regions close to the epicenter, there were no fatalities or severe injuries, according to residents.
This earthquake marked Morocco’s deadliest in over six decades, claiming the lives of over 2,900 individuals, primarily in remote settlements nestled within the High Atlas mountain range, south of Marrakech.
The video documented the sheer terror as people screamed “earthquake” and desperately sought family members amidst the fading electric lighting, replaced by the pinpoint flashes of mobile phone flashlights. Astonishingly, in Ighil Ntalghoumt, only an eight-year-old boy named Ahmed Ait Ali Oubella suffered injury when a rock struck his head, with his father seen carrying him to safety.
The event in question was a traditional pre-wedding celebration, customary in the bride’s family before she embarked on her journey to the groom’s house the following day. Despite the calamity, she undertook the journey to Kettou on foot, accompanied by Boudad’s brother and his wife, fellow attendees of the celebration. They arrived in the afternoon, greeted by extensive damage but no loss of life.
Both in Ighil Ntalghoumt and elsewhere, communal gatherings proved to be lifesavers, as villagers assembled for a funeral in a house that remained standing. While Boudad had purchased 150 chickens and 66 pounds of fruit to celebrate their wedding, much of it now lay wasted. He lamented, “When she arrived, there was nowhere to sleep. We are just looking for a tent.”
Residents from nearby villages had also joined the Ajdir family’s celebration, sharing a meal of beef tagine stew and, in doing so, evading the confinement of their homes beneath rubble.
In a gesture of remarkable resilience, the bride’s father, Mohamed Ajdir, had erected a large tent in his courtyard for the wedding guests. Now, that tent served as shelter for the villagers, although they expressed a pressing need for sturdier accommodations with colder, wetter weather on the horizon.
As Mohamed Ajdir surveyed the village, remnants of Friday night’s chaos, such as abandoned dress shoes among the rubble, bore witness to their ordeal.
While Ighil Ntalghoumt’s residents escaped a terrible fate, they remained in dire need of assistance, some making the arduous trek down the mountain to seek aid from authorities.
In Kettou, survivors united in the face of adversity, sharing meager supplies. As one resident put it, “The village is a big family. We share all we get.”
This sobering incident serves as a stark reminder that natural disasters can strike at any moment, underscoring the critical importance of government preparedness to protect its citizens in their most vulnerable hours.
