Spain sends an EMU team to Morocco to collaborate in the rescue of victims under the rubble

This Sunday, the Government guaranteed Morocco the sending of the aid it needs after the earthquake that on Friday night in the south of the country caused 2,012 deaths and 2,059 injuries, according to the provisional balance sheet. At around 11 in the morning a plane took off with a team from the Military Emergency Unit (UME), made up of 56 soldiers, who will later be joined by other rescue specialists provided by the autonomous communities, as had been anticipated. the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, earlier in the day in a statement to the press in New Delhi, after the closing of the G-20 summit held in the Indian capital.

The troops traveling to Morocco constitute an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team of the UME, and are made up of a contingent of more than fifty soldiers assisted by four dogs trained in locating possible survivors under the rubble. The strong earthquake suffered by Morocco, with a magnitude of 6.8, has caused damage and collapsed buildings in nine prefectures located around the city of Marrakech. The plane in which they travel to the Moroccan city is an A400 of the Air Force, the Ministry of Defense has reported through the X network (formerly Twitter), in which it shows its “affection, support and solidarity with the people of “Morocco in the face of this terrible tragedy.”

A USAR team from the @UMEgobmade up of 56 soldiers and 4 dogs, took off today from the Zaragoza Air Base to Marrakech, on an A400 of the @EjercitoAireto collaborate in the search and rescue of survivors of the devastating earthquake suffered in a neighboring country,… pic.twitter.com/ZSe3LpBYlc

— Ministry of Defense (@Defensagob) September 10, 2023

Several groups of Spanish firefighters have joined the rescue efforts or will do so shortly. The last to announce it have been those of the Special Emergency and Immediate Response Unit (Ericam) of the Community of Madrid, which is going to move to the area a team of 30 people made up of firefighters, health workers from the SUMMA112 service and canine guides responsible for four rescue dogs.

In Malaga, the Provincial Firefighters Consortium has already obtained the relevant authorizations and a team of five people assisted by four rescue dogs is on its way to Morocco. They will travel from the port of Algeciras to Tangier and, from there, by road to the damaged area. Cádiz sends six firefighters from its consortium, supported by four dogs. This Saturday, five Huelva firefighters left for the area accompanied by four dogs and equipped with debris and salvage material.

The General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior is managing the deployment on the ground of the UME contingent as well as the logistics and transport for the movement of the teams sent by the communities as soon as possible. All these tasks are being coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation and with the Moroccan authorities.

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Its owner, José Manuel Albares, has specified that Spain is also sending humanitarian aid by plane to the affected area. The Spanish collaboration has awaited the formal request of the Moroccan Government, which was finalized last morning when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maghreb country, Naser Burita, called his Spanish counterpart to formally request assistance with which to face the consequences of the earthquake. Immediately afterwards, Albares contacted the Ministers of Defense, Margarita Robles, and Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to activate the assistance device.

In the provisional balance of victims there is no Spanish citizen, Albares detailed, who has specified that all those registered in the consult registry have already been contacted, except for about twenty people, and also with police stations and hospitals in the area. “We will have to wait until the end of the rescue operations, but as the hours go by, obviously our hope that this will continue is growing because at this time it would be strange if we did not have any news of a Spaniard with whom there is no contact” , explained the minister. Albares has commented that the Marrakech headquarters of the Cervantes Institute has served as a makeshift shelter for “several Spaniards” to spend the night who were left without accommodation by the earthquake “until a hotel room has been found for them.”

Foreign Affairs has also sent a team to the Moroccan city to help manage the air return of Spaniards who were in the city or its surroundings and who have had their flights cancelled. The ministry has asked the airlines Iberia and Binter that the planes that go to Morocco have “greater capacity” to accommodate Spaniards who want to return home. In other cases, it will be easier for them to travel by train or road to the northern city of Tangier, from where there is a connection by sea with the Peninsula.

Once the rescue efforts are completed, Spain will provide aid to Morocco through the International Development Cooperation Agency.

This morning two planes from Marrakech landed at the Bilbao airport in which Basque tourists and people from Morocco residing in the Basque Country were returning. The travelers have been received by friends and relatives who were waiting for them with flowers, with balloons and a welcome banner and who have hugged them. “Calm down, love, calm down. It’s already over,” said a young man while he hugged his mother, who burst into emotional tears as soon as she saw him. The arrival of a father and his daughter, who hugged the couple’s mother and second daughter, was also emotional. The woman and one of the girls had to interrupt their vacation due to the girl’s illness and returned days before the earthquake. After those first moments of tears, the witnesses of the earthquake have told their families the “uncertainty and “fear” that they experienced in the first moments when they felt “the ground shake.” The first plane arrived in Bilbao around seven in the morning and the second plane landed at 12:45 p.m., both coming from Marrakech.

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