The initial grants for emergency operations designed to restore earthquake-affected religious sites amount to 95 million MAD for the year 2023, which will be supplemented by a programming budget of 1.2 billion MAD, reported Minister of Endowment and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq on Wednesday.
During the presentation of his ministry’s budget draft in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House, Toufiq said that 2,516 religious sites–including 2,217 mosques and 299 zawiyas and shrines affected by the September 8 Morocco earthquake—will be targeted for restoration.
Toufiq highlighted that 267 technical experts will be overseeing the rehabilitation of buildings, zawiyas, and shrines affected, and that no fewer than 17 technical studies have been completed for the restoration of the zawiyas and shrines.
The minister added that technical studies were prepared for ten major historical mosques, as these structures will need to be architecturally reinforced, and that expertise has been provided for 30 mosques located in the tourist circuits of the city of Marrakech, as well as for reinforcing the Tinneml Mosque and securing its protection/preservation of historically significant artifacts.
As for the operations related to endowment properties, along with administrative and cultural buildings, the official stated that Dar Mouasine and Ibn Youssef School had already been reinforced, while the repair and rehabilitation of the administrative and cultural complex Mohammed VI in Marrakech have also been repaired.
The ministry worked on ensuring the continuation of religious rituals by opening mosques–totaling 596 in all–and by employing 462 alternative locations, as well as acquiring alternative sites for religious rituals, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Their presence was represented by 500 tents with an area of 60 square meters.