The international narrative around the aid response to Morocco’s earthquake has been a rather shabby one. Unnamed western officials have sniped over how Rabat was slow to ask for help from outside and from whom, suggesting that this hampered the aid effort.
The reality is somewhat different. In three days travelling the Atlas mountains to report for this newspaper, I was able to see the limitations of the aid response, and its achievements, and compare them with previous disasters I have covered. And while it is fair to say there are communities that are seeing assistance arrive too slowly, overall the Moroccan government’s response has been reasonably effective.
