Fellow-led NGO, eSTEM Morocco, recognized by U.S. Ambassador to Morocco for Marrakech-Safi earthquake aid work
Fellow Nezha Larhrissi (Morocco, 2013), President of seed grant-funded NGO eSTEM Morocco, was invited for a special meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Morocco H.E Puneet Talwar to acknowledge and discuss the NGO’s intervention and aid efforts taken this fall following the 6.8 magnitude Marrakech-Safi earthquake in Morocco. ESTEM Morocco took part in a consortium of six other NGOs led by Association Maa Wa Namaa, which galvanized a caravan of relief workers to advance on the impacted region within 48 hours of the initial quake, offering field support to some 1300 families in 27 douars across Alhaouz, Taroudant, Chichaoua and Essaouira.
Nezha led a group of voluntary Moroccan IT engineers and oversaw the production of a portable mapping system, SeismeHUB, which provided timely insights pinpointing where urgent relief support was most needed across the more than 2000 douars severely impacted by the earthquake. In addition, eSTEM Morocco bridged and fostered connections between various working groups supporting communication, medical aid, field operations, reconstruction, digital data processing, fundraising, documentation and finance.
“On the ground we took also care of talking to women and girls, trying to provide presence and psychological relief,” Nezha detailed in recent communications.
The results of the response efforts can be found in an Arabic-language report prepared by Maa Wa Namaa.
