GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — As of Monday afternoon, close to 2,700 people are now dead after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Morocco Friday night. The hardest hit area was Marrakech in central Morocco, which has reported nearly 1,600 dead.
Added to the fatalities, officials from the United Nations say around 300,000 people across the region were impacted by the quake.
A local Moroccan chef, who was in Morocco during the earthquake, is trying to raise awareness, and soon money, to help his home country.
Chef and owner of restaurant Imperial Fez in Gwinnett County, Abde Rafih Benjelloun, was in Morocco Friday night.
"The problem is the rural area," he explained. "They have no structure to stand an earthquake. Believe me."
Benjelloun was in Tangier during the earthquake, which is about a 6.5-hour drive north of Marrakesh. He says he did not feel it, but he has been seeing the aftermath of the quake.
"There's a well-known square, with a mosque right in the middle, now all rumbles. All stones and rumbles. The whole city went out of their houses to the street, scared," he added.
Benjelloun's sister-in-law was one of those who ran outside to stay safe. He says that's how she was able to survive the earthquake.
"Nobody wants to see this beloved country broken, especially Morocco," he said. "It is the love of everybody. Morocco is the most unique country in the world that everybody is attached to it somehow. It is very sad to see what happened."
Benjelloun left for Morocco earlier this month to serve as a tour guide for a group of American tourists. One of them, Jerry Farney, who lives in Colorado Springs, says people can help in a few ways, including through donations.
"From the local economists, they're concerned about tourism because they also survive on that and they got a lot of cancellations," Farney said. "There's really no reason to do that, at least if you're not going into that southern area."
Benjelloun added that when he gets back to Atlanta at the end of September, he plans to hold fundraisers at his restaurant to help the earthquake victims.
"Oh, God... It's like having a dagger that is not wished for your heart," Benjelloun said, referring to how heartbreaking it is to see his country this way. "As a Muslim, you're supposed to surrender to the will of God. So you say, 'Okay, God, we accept. Forgive us, forgive us, forgive us.'"
To find out ways you can help, click here.
