Friday, September 8
Just after 11 PM I was woken up by strong shaking, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred south of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains. I remember thinking “Why is there an earthquake here, of all places?” I knew this region doesn’t experience regular earthquakes but I was concerned about the integrity of the building. As soon as the shaking stopped, I grabbed a few things, stuffed them into my backpack, and headed outside into the street along with everyone else.
The rest of the Japanese Geopark staff staying at my hotel all gathered and waited outside for about an hour or so to be sure it was safe. All the Japanese Geopark staff were part of a large texting group so we were able to confirm everyone’s safety very quickly and share information across the city. I was staying in a newer part of town with seemingly better construction and did not notice any damage to the outside of my hotel. Not everyone was as fortunate. Some hotels ended up with large cracks in the walls and would not let anyone back inside until the following morning.
Saturday, September 9
An hour had passed with no noticeable aftershocks, so my group decided to go back to the hotel and try to rest until morning. I returned to my room and noticed a small crack above the door and some plaster that had fallen on the floor. I decided to call Papa Bear to explain the situation and let him know I was okay. We chatted for a bit which helped me settle down, but I was still pretty concerned about aftershocks and couldn’t stand sitting in my room staring at the fallen plaster. Just in case, I repacked my suitcase and put all my important items in my backpack, took my backpack, and went down to the lobby. There were several other people there who did not want to go back to their rooms either, so I sat in the lobby with them and tried to read a book. Eventually, around 3 AM or so I was starting to fall asleep, so I went back to my room and managed to sleep for a few hours.
Woke up to a wall of text messages from our big Japanese staff group and from friends and family checking up on me. I went downstairs as usual to have breakfast and wait for any updates about the conference. My group waited in the lobby for a couple of hours while the conference organizers and the GGN Board of Executives decided how to proceed.
In the end, all conference attendees were asked to gather at the lunch tent behind the conference center to confirm everyone’s safety and to have lunch. We asked the hotel to arrange a taxi for us and within 30 minutes we were headed to the conference center. When we arrived, the conference staff had closed off the conference building due to large cracks in the walls that made the building unsafe.
We sat in the large tent for some time before lunch began, and at times it was quite hot in the tent. After lunch, I went outside to cool off in the shade. The conference organizers also decided to hold a scaled-down version of the closing ceremonies. After everything was said and done, I think we left the conference around 5 or 6 PM and headed back to the hotel. There was supposed to be a special dinner planned for later that evening, and it was still scheduled to happen, but the venue was far away and we were all very tired from the previous night so we decided to skip it in favor of sleep.
Sunday, September 10
This was my final day in Marrakech. Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until late afternoon, so we had planned a half-day guided tour with another geopark. Fortunately, the tour was still on as scheduled, unfortunately, most of the places we had planned to visit were closed due to the earthquake.
We ended up wandering around the old parts of town, through the markets and souks. It was a very different place compared to just a few days ago. Most of the shops were closed, there were piles of fallen brick and rubble here and there. We tried to walk down one of the narrow roads only to find it was completely blocked by a wall that had fallen over. A couple of women were trying to climb over the pile of stone that was probably 8-10 feet high. Our guide was amazing, he did his best to point out things of interest and find places for us to go.
We went to see the Bab Agnaou gate, built in the late 1100s and leads into part of the historic medina. The gate itself was fine, but some of the surrounding walls were crumbling. We visited a certified argon oil shop just inside the gate. We filed into a private room where one of the staff introduced argon oil and the products they sell. It was nice to try out some of the products. I had exchanged more money than I needed when we arrived, so I ended up buying some oil, face cream, and several bars of soap.
After we left the shop, we went by a grocery store and I was able to buy some souvenirs for my workplaces then we went to lunch. It seemed like a pretty fancy restaurant and the food was very good. I finally got to try something cooked in a tanjin! This was a great way to end my stay in Morocco. After our meal, the tour guide dropped us all off at the airport and we went our separate ways.
Luckily the airport was not affected by the earthquake and we had no problems getting checked in for our flight. I still had some Moroccan Dirhams left so I spent those at the airport on more souvenirs. I boarded my flight and waved goodbye to Morocco.
Here are some more photos from around Marrakech.
Kuma no Kazoku 