A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck Morocco seven days ago, leaving a trail of destruction and distress in its wake. This article talks about the Moroccan teacher who lost all her students to the earthquake.
For one Moroccan schoolteacher, Nesreen Abu ElFadel, the earthquake instantly carried her considerations to her pupils, who were in the mountain village of Adaseel, closer to the epicenter.
Nesreen Abu ElFadel, an Arabic-and French-language teacher, was in Marrakesh at the time of the earthquake.
However, her school and beloved students were in Adaseel. Without hesitation, she got back to the village in search of the children she cared for so profoundly.
Her heart sank when she discovered that all 32 of her students, aged six to twelve, had died in the quake. She related the agonizing moments when she asked about each child by name, only to receive the devastating response hours later that they had all passed away.
“I imagined holding my class’ attendance sheet and putting a line through one student’s name after another, until I had scratched off 32 names; they are all now dead,” she told BBC.
These youthful lives were tragically claimed by the strongest earthquake at any point kept in Morocco, which struck on the evening of September 8th.
The earthquake’s epicenter was in areas south of Marrakesh, where numerous mountain villages, including Adaseel, were totally destroyed.
Ms. ElFadel remembered the heartbreaking story of six-year-old Khadija. They tracked down her lifeless bodynd it was next to her brother Mohamed and her two sisters, Mena and Hanan.
They had all been in their beds, likely asleep, during the earthquake. They were all students at Ms. ElFadel’s school.
“Khadija was my favorite. She was very nice, smart, active, and loved to sing. She used to come to my house, and I loved studying and talking to her,” Ms. ElFadel recounted, her voice filled with grief.
The teacher described her students as “angels,” aware children eager to learn. Despite grappling with poverty and a challenging cost for most everyday items crisis, it was considered “the most important thing in the world” for these children and their families to attend school.
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“Our last class was on Friday night, exactly five hours before the quake hit,” Ms. ElFadel hinted. “We were learning Morocco’s national anthem and planned to sing it in front of the whole school on Monday morning.”