After a devastating earthquake, Morocco turned down offers of support from more than 60 countries and organizations, only admitting four. Part of the justification is pragmatic, but there are also political reasons, experts explain.

It's hard to watch the videos about the earthquake in Morocco on social media. "There's no one here to help us," exclaims an elderly man from a village near the Tizi N'Test mountain pass in the High Atlas range. All around him is red dust and rubble where houses once stood, all destroyed by the earthquake on the night of September 8, 2023.

He, his son and five others are trying to rescue their neighbors from under the collapsed buildings. "Many victims simply stayed in the ruins until they died," he tells the cameraman, who will later publish the interview on YouTube.

"There's nobody here," a woman shouts in another video posted on Instagram. "No tents, no other accommodation. We're living on donations alone. Where are the authorities?

These cries for help have led many Moroccans to question their own government. They want to know why - in the wake of the 6.0 magnitude earthquake that has already caused around 3,000 deaths - Rabat has so far only accepted assistance from four countries - Qatar, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom - having rejected offers from 60 others.

This made international headlines. France and Germany felt obliged to publicly deny that the rejection by Rabat was politically motivated. According to Le Monde, Moroccan authorities were irritated by the controversy, accusing the French of treating them like backward people. With a history of more than four decades of colonization, Franco-Moroccan diplomatic relations are currently tense.

Private or state organization, that's the question

Disaster response experts note that while international rescue initiatives are always political in some way, they are also complex, involving dozens of different actors, and highly dependent on other circumstances.

Ideally, they should be guided by a set of guidelines established by the Red Cross and Red Crescent between 2001 and 2007, in order to avoid some of the problems that have hampered past operations. One of the points is that any disaster response should start with local efforts, and international reinforcements should only enter the country if invited.

However, there is a difference between private, non-governmental (NGO) and charitable organizations, and state organizations, such as the team at the Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), Germany's civil defense agency.

Depending on the situation, private groups can start their work without an invitation. For example, since Europeans can obtain a visa on arrival in Morocco, and the airport was safe and open, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sent some of its volunteers the day after the quake.

With their medical focus, they assess how the health services are managing the situation, and judge whether intervention is necessary. "If we identify a gap, we go through official channels," explains Christian Katzer, director of MSF Germany, "connecting with a government body to get permission to enter and act officially."

The case is different for state-sponsored organizations, such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Enucah). Subject to international sovereignty rules, they cannot enter without an invitation. On the other hand, it is common for them to have staff in different countries - as is the case with Enucah.

This agency plays an important role in international emergency response. In the event of a disaster, after being notified by cell phone, its agents connect to an online platform in order to coordinate their actions. At the same time, UN representatives in the country are already contacting the government to offer assistance.

At the same time, the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (Insarag) is taking action. With 90 member states, it coordinates 57 teams specializing in urban search and rescue. It has had a team in Morocco since 2014. To be allowed to take part, local volunteers had to pass a 70-hour exam.

One eye on viability - the other on politics

Several factors determine whether an offer of international assistance is accepted or not. On the one hand, it depends on the disaster itself: how extensive is the damage? Have hospitals been affected, are there health and rescue workers among the dead? Is there an option for local emergency services to take over?

In the earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria in February 2023, killing around 50,000, Ankara activated the multilateral Insarag system within hours. In the end, 49 of the 57 teams, totaling 3,500 agents, plus rescue dogs, went to the country.

In the current earthquake in Morocco, the government sent its own military to help the victims, explaining that it did not want too many international rescue teams, to avoid a "counterproductive" lack of coordination. In fact, in 2004, after a smaller quake, aid flights blocked local airports and rescue teams damaged roads.

There is no doubt that official invitations are also political. There may be bilateral emergency aid agreements, or regional ones: Europe has the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, for example, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has a similar pact.

In the 2011 earthquake that resulted in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan only accepted support from 24 countries and regions, despite receiving 163 offers. According to critics, there were also domestic political factors. In addition, Tokyo is notorious for its bureaucratic procrastination when it comes to allowing foreign teams in: two days after the earthquake, Swiss volunteers, who were among the first to come forward, were still waiting for permission to import their search and rescue dogs.

"Every moment lost is a moment too many"

Thus, despite the headlines about Morocco's rejection of international assistance, several experts in the field are reluctant to criticize the government, preferring only to comment on the issue on condition of anonymity.

"There are extreme examples where the government prefers to leave its own people in misery rather than collaborate with aid organizations," says an expert in disaster response. "In some cases there is also a reticence to ask for help, in the belief that accepting it would make the state look weak."

However, this is more common in the case of extremely authoritarian regimes, say the analysts consulted. In fact, they expect more aid organizations to be allowed into Morocco in the near future, once the initial emergency response is over.

"A rescue response will never be fast enough for those who have been devastated by the disaster and are struggling to keep their loved ones alive," acknowledges Kirsten Bookmiller, professor of governance and policy issues at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. For them, "every moment lost is a moment too many". (DW)