Morocco has been facing, since Saturday, July 10, a suffocating heat that should peak this Sunday, July 11, with record temperatures that will approach 51 degrees. This is an all-time high, according to the country’s meteorological services.
In Fez, the epicenter of this heat peak, residents speak of a stifling heat that has hit their city since Saturday. It is unbearable especially for the poorest, who do not have air conditioners or who are forced to go to work outside.
“This morning it is very, very hot. It is the first time in a long time that the temperature has reached 47 ° C. For the children, the animals, the old people, it is catastrophic. For the rich, no problem, they have air conditioners and stay at home, but the poor have to go get food. For example my father is 60 years old and works in a field outside. It’s very hard for him because even the birds are hiding outside,” explains Mohamed, a receptionist in a hotel in Fez.
For the head of the National Meteorological Research Center of Morocco, Hassan Haddouch, this phenomenon is first and foremost the consequence of global warming which has affected our planet for years, and which is due in particular to human activity.
“There has indeed been a massive rise in temperature since yesterday [Saturday July 10] and for today, the same is expected. We broke temperature records in quite a few cities. It is due to human activity which releases greenhouse gases that we have a blockage in the atmosphere. So, this human activity which releases greenhouse gases has disrupted this balance which is found at the level of the atmosphere and therefore, instead of having usually, at the level of Morocco, atmospheric phenomena that come from the West, we have lifts coming from the east. Therefore, this time it’s hot air coming up from the Sahara and causing a very big temperature increase. We hope that temperatures in Morocco will start to drop from Monday or Tuesday.”
