Keeping up Appearances

[Note: Blogger is having trouble with photos today, so I'm posting this without. Will add some later.]

When I started thinking about writing this post, I decided to research a little about the 1960 Agadir earthquake. Before my research, I knew only that the entire city had been basically wiped out. It was actually a really devastating quake -- 6.7 on the Richter scale, a subsequent tidal wave and fire throughout the city. The quake only lasted for about 15 seconds, but due to poor construction standards, thousands of Moroccans and thousands more tourists were completely buried in rubble from the falling buildings. An estimated 12,000 people died and 12,000 more were injured. Here's a link to a BBC article: news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/29/

and a link to some photos: http://www.pbase.com/beunard/agadir_earthquake

Surprisingly, 36 years later a great deal of the rubble you see in those photos still remains; a lot of the old neighborhoods were never fully built up again, or were turned into shanty towns like the one behind our school.

These days Agadir is growing and changing so quickly it doesn't know what to do with itself. There are cranes all over the port area, building dozens of new high-rise hotels to meet the increasing tourism. It's so commonplace to see new houses being built that I hardly even notice them any more. However, the other day I found myself examining the foundation of a new house being constructed. To say the least, it doesn't inspire confidence when I see cinder block stacked haphazardly, the cracks sometimes filled with a lot of mortar, sometimes a little, and sometimes not at all. There are also a staggering number of holes in those cinderblocks, which may or may not serve to accommodate plumbing and electricity. I'm not so sure. I rarely see any of those metal bar thingies that "earthquake proof" new buildings. You'd think Agadir folk would've learned their lesson by now.

The truth of the matter is, as far as I can tell, only one contractor in Morocco owns a level, and he ain't the type to share. Nearly everything here has a slight lean to it. Tables, wardrobes, doorways, staircases, shelves, roads, etc -- everything is just slightly imperfect. "Quirky," if you will. It is simultaneously charming and frustrating. It is part of what makes Morocco MOROCCO. But I sure do wish, some days, that my closet doors would stay shut without me having to lock them. I'm not certain if it's because the floor leans or because the wardrobe leans. Probably a combination of both.

At any rate, despite the imperfections, things generally turn out looking beautiful. For Moroccans, it's all about what's on the outside. The don't have the money to build something sturdy and beautiful, so they opt to make it just beautiful. At least then they have the illusion of having something really nice. Nevermind that your house will fall down again the next time there's an earthquake. At least it'll look damn good until then.