Mohammed Manfalouti – HIBAPRESS
The body of the second victim is expected to be buried today, Friday, in his hometown in Al-Hawaza community, Seta district, after he passed away with his niece, trainee teacher "Khadija", who was preparing to take the graduation exam as a teacher of Islamic education, before she became a victim of the fires that broke out the day before Eid al-Adha, coinciding with the standing of pilgrims at Arafat, burning fires that consumed many planted hectares adjacent to the city of Settat to the south in Al-Hawaza community.
"HIBAPRESS" visited the place and examined the size of the material, human and psychological losses and their repercussions on the feelings and hearts of the simple residents of the area, while the houses of the secure remained only traces and the emission of the smell of "fear", and other families did not find in front of them except the installation of tents for shelter with initiatives from the residents of the area in the form of a "khazana". In separate statements by many victims of these fires, everyone agreed that the fires continued to move and jump at lightning speed, leaving behind burnt land that did not escape the animals that were grazing, where some of them are still dying after the fire reached their skin and fur. The mother of teacher Khadija recounts that she and her daughter were fasting that day, the day of Arafah, and the joy was double, the reception of Eid and the preparation for the graduation exam from the training center as a future teacher of Islamic education. Khadija was passionate about studying, and she insisted on confronting poverty and giving the living model of the rural girl, the student who persevered, who defied the difficulties and joined the world of teaching as a trainee teacher at the training center in El Jadida. Khadija was with an appointment to take the graduation exam, and the simple family was waiting for the news with great longing, and it was the moment of the tragic incident with her mother before she hastened to save her two cows from the heart of the fire, she started at lightning speed and her uncle followed her, before the fire surrounded them from all sides. Khadija passed away, and the uncle was admitted to the intensive care unit and from it he was transferred to Casablanca hospitals before he surrendered his soul to his creator. Funeral tents were set up, and the area turned into a sanctuary for those coming from all regions to alleviate the pain and share condolences with the rest of the victims who have not yet understood the size of the tragedy. The fires were frightening, destroying the land, offspring, stone and trees, and elements of civil protection moved, reinforced by interventions by other elements from Casablanca and El Jadida and teams from the Royal Army to extinguish and contain them so that they do not continue to expand. It is a painful tragedy that negatively affected the agricultural situation in the region and disrupted the calculations of many farmers, especially the simple ones, who found themselves in front of a disaster that did not remain and did not leave. Disasters like these re-raise the issue of agricultural insurance on the table for discussion again, to work on imposing it against the risks of fires, whether for farmers or agricultural machinery and workers in them, with strict monitoring in this regard. Also, a safety strip must be imposed, especially for fields and vast connected lands, which is a strip by which the owner of the field harvests the edges of his land by approximately 6 meters at least and then plows it well, where if God wills, the losses will be small. And work to raise the awareness of the citizen through all audio-visual and written means and the blue space to avoid the causes leading to the outbreak of fires, while creating temporary branches of civil protection or equipping vehicles and deploying them across agricultural areas, especially those known for high temperatures. Many also questioned the reason for not using firefighting aircraft for this purpose, while emphasizing the obligation of the owners of agricultural machinery to equip their mechanisms with all technical means for firefighting. Details on this topic within the following report: https://youtu.be/69NRLuKxN78?si=hEvS1EqKtdm9ph8e
