Update: As of September 29, our community has donated nearly $60,000 to this emergency fundraiser. Groups on the ground have been working to provide food and essential supplies, including blankets and stoves, set up tents and power sources to get children back to school, and deliver mobile phones to women so they can access critical information and resources. Please give today and help them continue this work and pave the way for marginalized communities’ voices and rights to be included in rebuilding efforts.
In response to the devastating earthquake that struck Morocco on September 8, the Fund for Global Human Rights launched an emergency fundraising campaign to support local human rights defenders and the communities they serve. All donations went directly to Fund staff and grantees working to provide urgent relief to marginalized and at-risk communities in the region.
Shortly after 11 pm on Friday night, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Atlas Mountains, near the city of Marrakech. The scope of the destruction has overwhelmed local officials, and government aid has been slow to reach remote rural communities that urgently need assistance. More than 2,900 people are confirmed to have died, and the death toll is expected to rise as medics and aid workers continue to search through rubble for survivors.
Fund staff and grantees are already on the ground. Houda Benmbarek, a Moroccan activist working with the Fund, shared this message from Marrakech:
When a disaster like this strikes, marginalized groups—including refugees and migrants, women, and children—are particularly vulnerable to being excluded from relief and recovery efforts. Local human rights defenders, who are deeply rooted in the communities they serve, play an essential role in ensuring that no one is left behind.
Grassroots activists and organizations supported by the Fund, such as El Amane Association and refugee-led ALECMA, have spent years building safe spaces and promoting the rights of marginalized communities in the region. Overnight, they’ve also become frontline responders—not only providing immediate resources like food, water, and shelter to survivors, but protecting the fundamental rights of marginalized or at-risk groups in the process. They’re working in solidarity with a broad movement to connect everyone with critical relief and lifesaving aid.
Thank you for supporting disaster relief in Morocco.
