One Moroccan schoolteacher’s immediate concern was for her students when she experienced the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck a week ago. Although Nesreen Abu ElFadel was in Marrakesh at the time, her school and pupils were located in Adaseel, a mountain village much closer to the epicenter.
Upon hearing the news, she rushed back to Adaseel in search of the children, but the devastating truth soon became clear: all 32 of her students, aged six to twelve, had perished in the earthquake.
She recounted her painful experience, saying, “I imagined holding my class’s attendance sheet and putting a line through one student’s name after another, until I had scratched off 32 names; they are all now dead.”
The earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Morocco, struck on the evening of September 8 and claimed nearly 3,000 lives. Many mountain villages, including Adaseel, were completely destroyed.
Ms. ElFadel recalled the heartbreaking discovery of six-year-old Khadija’s body, along with her brother Mohamed and her two sisters, Mena and Hanan. They had all been in bed, likely asleep, during the quake. Khadija was her favorite student, known for being bright, active, and fond of singing.
Despite facing poverty and a high cost of living, the children and their families considered attending school the most important thing in the world.
Ms. ElFadel, who loved teaching Arabic and French to the Amazigh-speaking children of Adaseel, plans to continue her teaching career. She hopes that the authorities will rebuild the school, which collapsed during the earthquake.
A total of 530 educational institutions have been damaged to varying degrees, with some completely collapsed or severely structurally damaged, according to official statements. The Moroccan government has temporarily suspended classes in the hardest-hit areas.
Ms. ElFadel said, “Maybe one day when they rebuild the school and classes are back in session, we can commemorate those 32 kids and tell their story.”