Wadis in flood and conscience in decline

The drama was dazzling. In Tizert, a village in the region of Taroudant, the sudden flood of a river killed at least seven people Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said. The ongoing search operations managed to find an elderly man injured. For those who died, it was a 17-year-old and six elderly men.
The impressive images, filmed by mobile phone and broadcast on social networks, show that the river overflowed before submerging a field where played an amateur football tournament, while a special bulletin of the Moroccan Directorate of Meteorology (DMN ) had warned of the risk of "orange-level" thunderstorms in several provinces of the Kingdom. The eight men who had taken refuge in the locker room were swept away by the waves. An aerial photograph of the field shows that it was built on the riverbed.
In Morocco, natural disasters are increasing. The evidence, in the space of a few months, a landslide occurred in the region of Marrakesh killing 15 and the floods that have come to mourn the province of Taroudant. In both cases, the toll would have been lower if these dead men and women were better prepared for disasters and sensitized to cope with them.
However, as early as 2016, a report from the World Bank warned that the Moroccan population was not sufficiently aware of its exposure to the risks associated with natural disasters and in particular "the poorest, less educated and with limited means to protect themselves, "says the document.
To justify this, the World Bank relied on a survey on collective risk perception in four communities in the provinces of Guelmim, El Hoceima, Taounate and Chaouen. The survey in question showed that the population was generally aware of the risks of natural disasters; The 84% of respondents and owners of their homes attest that they wish to limit possible damage. On the other hand, according to the survey, this population is poorly informed of the specific risks to which it is exposed, since 89% of respondents consider floods to be the main risk, even if they lived in highly seismic zones.
To address this, the report highlighted "the need for a proactive approach to natural disaster risk management". A necessity that should result in an awareness of the people of the existence of these risks while giving them the keys to mitigate the effects of possible natural disasters at the local level. And this is not illusory, especially since the report explains that "all the interviewees recognize that they could play a role in disaster risk management through community actions". Not to mention that 81% of them believe that risk management is the responsibility of governments at local and national levels. Were these recommendations taken seriously? Nothing is less sure.
Echoing this last point, there is the example of Japan. Natural disasters have marked the history of the country. And the Japanese have learned to see them coming. For several years, the Japanese state has taken steps in this direction. François Macé, a professor at INALCO's Center for Japanese Studies, assures that "from an early age, there is a learning of the disaster. The country is regularly subject to natural disasters, it is a question of survival, it is fundamental »
Other nations have also given special attention, with the main instrument being the Hyogo Framework for Action, named after a Japanese prefecture whose main city is Kobe, where the 2005 conference was held. . A region that was hit by a severe earthquake in 1995. Adopted by the UN Member States, the Hyogo Framework for Action aims to build the resilience of nations and communities to disasters, through significant reduction in disaster losses. Losses in both human lives and the social, economic and environmental capital of communities and countries.
The priority actions of this action plan are at numbers of five. Starting with ensuring that disaster risk reduction is a national and local priority with a strong institutional base for implementation. Next, it is about identifying, assessing, monitoring disaster risk and strengthening early warning systems. Using knowledge, innovation and education to create a culture of security and resilience at all levels is also a critical element for the success of the Hyogo Framework for Action, as is the reduction of underlying risk factors, and strengthening disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.
In the light of its elements, it seems obvious that Moroccans who have recently succumbed to the devastating effects of natural disasters could have been partly saved. Moreover, when we know that UNESCO organized a world-wide campaign for disaster prevention education a few years ago. It had two main objectives. First, promote disaster prevention in school curricula. And second, to improve school safety by encouraging the application of building standards that can withstand any kind of natural hazard. The campaign proved effective during the tsunami of December 2004, when little Tilly Smith saved a hundred lives from a tsunami-related geography lesson she had taken before going on holiday to Thailand with his parents.