Some of the settlements perched in the High Atlas are still not accessible by road nearly a week after the nation's deadliest quake in generations, though the authorities have not said how many.
Yet the one-lane gravel road leading to Ardouz, home to some 200 before the disaster, is open, passing dusty apple trees and a dry riverbed before dead-ending into sharply rising mountain slopes.
Less than 10 kilometres (six miles) further south, beyond those steep hills, rests the epicentre of the quake that killed over 2,900 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
The trauma of that night, which claimed around 20 lives in Ardouz, is imprinted on 28-year-old Abdelakim Housaini's face.
He lost his mother and grandparents when their home collapsed on September 8 and then suffered through the wait for help for the injured -- which was long but less than in some other isolated places.
"The nearest hospital is an hour away and doesn't offer many treatments," he said.
"We couldn't transport or even care for the injured. We kept them warm and waited for rescuers to arrive, which took about eight hours," said Housaini, who works as a cook in Casablanca and was home visiting his family when the quake struck.
Lack of opportunity sends many locals into urban centres for work, while farming is a key employer and means of survival in many of the tiny Atlas villages.
The area is not wealthy, with the surrounding Al Haouz province notching a per capita GDP of $2,000, while nearby Marrakesh province reports nearly $2,800.
But poverty is not the sole factor that determines how locals live.
"The people here were very happy. They led simple and peaceful lives," said native Mohamed Alayout, 62.
"But after the disaster, things have gotten very difficult," added the day labourer who rushed home from Casablanca to help within hours of the quake.
- 'We're not isolated here' -
The remoteness of places like Ardouz means an early end to schooling and the start of work for many -- a situation that will not get better after the quake.
The local primary school is still standing, but has cracks big enough to fit a hand in and holes in its masonry walls large enough to climb through.
At the head of its child-size chairs and tables, the blackboard still has the lesson from the last class and date: September 8.
"We don't know yet what will happen with the children. We don't have a school anymore," said village native Fatima Ajijou, 55.
"Life was already very hard here before. It's very isolated here and the earthquake has only made it worse," added Ajijou, who had been living in Marrakesh even before the disaster.
Housaini grew up in the village and stopped his studies at 15 due to lack of access to a secondary school. He has been working ever since.
He acknowledges the difficulty of life for the people who lived in Ardouz even before the powerful quake killed about 10 percent of the population there, and either flattened or left uninhabitable nearly every home.
The survivors are now living in government-issued aid tents that don't have floors and will be completely inadequate shelter once the rainy season and cold hit the village, which sits at 1,700 metres (5,500 feet).
But Housaini holds tight to his memories of playing there when he was a boy and his walks on the mountain trails that offer views across miles of mountains.
"We aren't isolated here -- that's in the cities where you can't breathe," he said, smiling slightly.
Morocco unveils rehousing programme for quake-hit areas
Rabat (AFP) Sept 14, 2023 - Morocco announced the launch of an aid programme on Thursday to support and rehouse the residents of about 50,000 buildings damaged in last week's devastating earthquake.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake -- Morocco's strongest ever -- has killed nearly 3,000 pople and injured more than 5,600 since it hit last Friday in Al-Haouz province, south of tourist hub Marrakesh.
Those left homeless will be provided with temporary shelter in "structures designed to withstand cold and bad weather, or in reception sites equipped with all the necessary amenities", the royal office said in a statement following a meeting chaired by King Mohamed VI.
The Moroccan authorities have also ordered urgent aid of 30,000 dirhams (nearly $3,000) to households affected by the disaster, the statement added.
It said this would form the first stage of a programme covering some 50,000 homes that had fully or partially collapsed in the quake.
The number of people left without homes by the quake, which has devastated numerous entire villages in Morocco's Atlas mountain region, is not known.
The royal office said 140,000 dirhams (about $13,600) would be allocated for homes that were completely collapsed, in addition to 80,000 dirhams to rebuild partially collapsed structures.
Morocco has allowed rescue teams to come to its aid from Spain, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but so far declined offers from several other nations, including the United States, France and some Middle Eastern countries.
Moroccan village adjusts to life in tents after devastating quake
Ighermane, Morocco (AFP) Sept 14, 2023 -
Men draw water from a well to transport it by donkey to the makeshift camp where they have been living since their village was destroyed in the massive earthquake that devastated southern Morocco last week.
Living conditions in Ighermane, a remote village in the High Atlas mountains, have always been rudimentary, but "there was water in the houses," said 28-year-old Mohamed Oublay, after filling plastic containers that will be used to wash utensils and prepare dinner outdoors.
"Now we have gone back to the time of our ancestors."
The village lost three children to Friday night's earthquake. Its mud-brick homes were all partially or completely destroyed.
Even its brand-new mosque, inaugurated just five months ago, was not spared.
Climbing the mounds of rubble that still reek with the stench of the dead livestock buried beneath, Oublay surveys the scale of the crisis facing the village.
The interior ministry "provided us with 72 tents, but we are 90 families," he said. "We can't afford to store provisions there. The priority is to accommodate women and children."
Saida Ouchi said she was about to spend her first night under canvas after five nights sleeping in the open among the olive trees.
"I was told that we might be able to run a small lamp by connecting it to the only house that still has power," she adds.
Ouchi has used mattresses and cushions distributed by charities to arrange her living space, which she shares with her husband, two of her daughters and three grandchildren.
While she is grateful for the increased comfort, she does not hide her fears for the safety of her grandchildren.
"We're worried about the children, always wondering where they are and if something will fall on them," she said.
The village school was destroyed in the quake forcing its pupils to spend their days outside.
Ouchi's kitchen has been reduced to a few utensils around a wood fire shared with other women in the village. The food supplies distributed by local charities are stored under a tarpaulin baking under the punishing sun.
Moustapha Chamoun is worried about the approach of winter, which sometimes brings snow to the village. He prays that the authorities will help them rebuild their homes before the first snowfall hits.
"We don't have the means to do it ourselves," said the 25-year-old, who, like many villagers, holds down several part-time jobs in the country's economic hub, Casablanca, to support his family.
"My parents, like my grandparents, will never want to leave here, and besides, housing elsewhere is prohibitively expensive," he said.
Despite everything, Ouchi remains hopeful. "If they give us a bit of cement and some earth, we will rebuild it ourselves. I just want two rooms and a kitchen. That's all I ask form" she said.
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