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The earthquake in Morocco just over a week ago maimed a six-century-old mosque in one of Amizmiz's oldest neighbourhoods, taking a bite out of the pinky-brown 1)minaret.
A nearby row of shops appeared untouched - until I saw the vertical scar, as if a giant axeman had tried to cut two shops apart, nearly succeeding. The 2)entrails of a nearby building were on show.
"You should see the really bad ones round the corner," said Abdi, man outside the mosque.
He was right. Those houses didn't really exist, though you could see the remains of a television 3)jutting out of the 4)rubble.
In Amizmiz, many died and some bodies still haven't been recovered.
Next to the shops, another man was 5)methodically piling up his possessions in the small square, the sofas and cupboards exposed to the elements. I wished him courage, and he managed a polite smile.
Not all of Amizmiz has been hit quite as hard as this neighbourhood. But everyone living here has been affected.
The buildings are not safe and so almost everyone has left their homes.
The lucky ones have been given shelter by the government. I could see a long line of yellow tents on the opposite hillside, and blue ones nearer the middle of town.
A hotel allowed anyone to stay for free, an example of the Moroccan sense of 6)solidarity I came across so often this week.
It was at the hotel that I met Abdelali, a friend of a friend of a friend. A secondary school teacher wearing a 7)lilac shirt and sunglasses, he seemed relaxed - until he started talking about his 8)ordeal.
Many of his students and friends had died in the earthquake.
He had been celebrating his daughter's 21 birthday on what he now calls "black Friday". As soon as she blew the candles out, the ground started to shake. A birthday she will never forget, a moment that changed everything. The whole family now lives in a tent.
"We need a new word," Abdelali said, his voice rising with each phrase, "that is even stronger than horrific, than horrible, than disastrous, than catastrophic. Violent is not a good description, terrifying does not describe the situation."
The school he was so passionate about might not open for months and classes would be held in tents, risking the chances of a whole generation of students. His bank had been destroyed, meaning he had to travel dozens of kilometres to get money out.
His real fear, though, was the winter, when temperatures 9)plunge and snow covers the slopes. What will he and his family do if they are still living in their thin tent when the snow comes?
This part of Morocco is one of the poorest and least developed in the country.
The government's response to this crisis was too slow, many told me. Morocco has always been a 10)bureaucratic, hierarchical county. I approached a succession of officials for an interview, in hospitals and makeshift camps for the displaced; all refused, saying they didn't have permission from their boss.
Morocco has also declined offers of help from the former colonial power France, at least until now, though foreign support will surely be needed for a reconstruction job this big.
At the hotel, I asked Shaimaa, one of many residents made homeless by the quake, whether she believed the government would be able to help her. She laughed, said she doubted it, but added she had faith in the Moroccan people.
Ever since the earthquake struck, Moroccans have 11)clubbed together to buy water and juice, cooking oil and bread, sanitary products and blankets, everything that the survivors might need.
They have driven into the 12)heart of these mountains, along roads where an 13)aftershock could send rocks raining down from the steep hillsides, to provide help to people like Shaimaa and Abdelali.
Back near the mosque, Abdi motioned me and my colleagues over.
“You must eat," he said, and produced a dish of perfectly steamed vegetables on top of fragrant yellow grains of 14)couscous.
Moroccan hospitality is unescapable, even in the most challenging of circumstances; Moroccans' spirit has not been crushed under the weight of the earthquake.
Amizmiz is - I should say was - a pretty little town.
It follows the curve of the road from Marrakesh into the mountains, with incredible views across the valleys that turn a gentle shade of peach when the sun begins to set. Foreign tourists have come here for decades to hike in the hills, and Moroccans for a bit of 15)respite from the 16)hectic urban charms of Marrakesh.
Not anymore.
Published: 2023-09-17
Source: BBC News
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1) Minaret (noun): 일반적으로 모스크에서 발견되는 높은 탑으로 기도를 요청하는 곳이다. 독특한 건축학적 특징을 지닌다.
2) Entrails (noun): 사람이나 동물의 내장이나 창자, 깊숙이 들어 있거나 드러나 있는 것을 묘사할 때 자주 사용된다.
3) Jutting out (phrase): 튀어나오거나 바깥 쪽으로 뻗어나가는 것을 의미한다. 표면과 같은 높이가 아닌 물체나 물체의 일부를 묘사하는 데 자주 사용된다.
4) Rubble (noun): 손상되거나 파괴된 건물이나 구조물의 부서진 벽돌, 콘크리트 또는 기타 재료 조각을 뜻한다.
5) Methodically (adverb): 체계적이고 구조화된 방식으로 명확하고 질서 있는 프로세스나 계획을 따르는 것을 말한다.
6) Solidarity (noun): 사람들 사이의 단결감과 상호 지원을 의미한다. 특히, 어려운 시기에 서로 돕기 위해 함께 모일 때를 말한다.
7) Ordeal (noun): 사람의 인내력이나 힘을 시험하는 매우 어렵고, 고통스럽거나 도전적인 경험이다.
8) Lilac (noun/adjective): 향기로운 보라색 또는 분홍빛이 도는 꽃 또는 이러한 꽃과 관련된 색상을 가진 꽃 식물의 일종이다.
9) Plunge (verb): 갑자기 급격하게 아래로 내려가다라는 뜻으로 갑작스럽거나 급격한 온도 하락을 묘사할 때 자주 사용된다.
10) Bureaucratic (adjective): 많은 규칙과 절차가 있는 복잡하고 계층적인 행정 또는 정부 시스템과 관련된다.
11) Clubbing together (British English, phrase): 특히 공통의 목적이나 목표를 위해 다른 사람들과 협력하거나 자원을 모으는 것이다.
12) Heart of (something) (phrase): 어떤 것의 중심 또는 가장 중요한 부분으로, 종종 핵심 위치나 본질을 가리키는 데 사용된다.
13) Aftershock (noun): 더 큰 지진에 뒤이어 발생하는 더 작은 지진으로, 강도를 약하지만 여전히 추가 진동을 유발한다.
14) Couscous (noun): 밀 알갱이를 찌거나 삶아 만든 북아프리카 요리의 일종으로, 일반적을 주식으로 사용된다.
15) Respite (noun): 도전적이거나 스트레스가 많은 일로부터 짧은 휴식이나 안도감을 제공하여 휴식을 취하는 것이다.
16) Hectic (adjective): 매우 바쁘고, 혼란스럽고, 열광적이며, 종종 서두르고 활동으로 가득 찬 상황이나 환경과 관련된다.
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