“We are humanitarians, we are here to save lives. We regret that decisions are not taken more quickly”, explains Arnaud Fraisse, the president of Secouristes sans frontières.
“If we don’t have a green light before 12 p.m., we will unfortunately give up on this mission”, laments Monday, September 11 on franceinfo, Arnaud Fraisse, the president of Secouristes sans frontières. The NGO specializes in finding survivors after earthquakes. Morocco, bereaved after a violent earthquake, accepts “at this stage” help from Spain, Great Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. These four countries were able to send search and rescue teams. Arnaud Fraisse “respects the decision of the Moroccan government to select” because “It can be complicated to manage” from a logistical point of view. But he adds, “We are humanitarians, we are here to save lives. We regret that decisions are not taken more quickly”.
>> Earthquake in Morocco: follow the live
The president of Rescuers Without Borders emphasizes that time is running out for his NGO. “Our specialty is to find people alive. Our interventions can only be done very quickly after the earthquake. If we leave five days later, it’s no longer worth it”, he explains. Arnaud Fraisse tempers by noting that “We have seen miracles like in Haiti in 2010, where a woman was rescued eight days after the earthquake.”
“Relatively reduced” chances of finding survivors
However, according to him, the situation is different in Morocco, because the “architectural situation is totally different”. Victims of the violent earthquake “were buried under earth, adobe, earth dust”, in mountainous areas. That provokes “breathing problems” and so, “the chances of finding survivors are now relatively reduced in this type of earthquake compared to the architecture of the country”explains the humanitarian.
Volunteer rescuers and French humanitarians went to Morocco without waiting for the green light from the authorities. “This is not our method”explains the founder of the NGO Secouristes sans frontières. “We are bound by a UN charter, I would say ethical. There is a large UN movement which brings together the ‘Search and rescue’ teams of the world. This charter says that only the countries are decision makers of the aid that they want to receive.”
Arnaud Fraisse adds that he “does not want to get into diplomatic issues between countries”, implying between France and Morocco. But with the members of the NGO, he “is unfortunate because our role is to save people, so we are really disappointed”, he confides to franceinfo. The day before on France Inter, he had expressed his incomprehension regarding the “blocking” Moroccan authorities.