King Mohammed VI Launches Regional Stockpile Platform in Sale to Enhance Morocco’s Disaster Readiness
King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, inaugurated the works to establish an initial stockpile and reserves platform in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region. This project is part of a strategic vision aimed at bolstering Morocco’s readiness to face natural and industrial disasters, ensuring an immediate and effective response for affected citizens.
The platform will cover an area of 20 hectares and is set to be completed within 12 months, with a budget of 287.5 million dirhams. The facility will comprise four warehouses, two heavy equipment yards, a helicopter landing zone, and parking lots. This facility is not isolated but is part of a national network of 12 regional platforms, with an overall cost approaching 7 billion dirhams, including 2 billion for construction and 5 billion for equipment and materials.
These platforms span a total of 240 hectares and will include 36 warehouses distributed based on population density and potential risks. Regions with the highest population density, such as Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech, Fez, Tangier, and Souss, will each have four warehouses, while other regions will be limited to two per platform.
The stored equipment and materials will cover essential needs in emergencies. These platforms will provide 200,000 fully equipped tents, mobile kitchens and bakeries, drinking water treatment units, and electrical generators. They will also house specialized tools for interventions in cases of floods, earthquakes, landslides, and chemical or radiological contamination.
On the health front, the plan includes the deployment of six rapidly deployable field hospitals, with plans for an additional six units comprising multidisciplinary medical teams. The platforms will also have field medical centers for urgent priorities and stocks of ready-to-use medicines.
Specialized teams will manage and store critical materials according to strict standards ensuring safety and quality. The project aims to improve the national rapid response structure and enhance the country’s resilience and effective intervention, through an integrated system based on international standards and Morocco’s disaster management experience.
This program enables Morocco to possess reserves sufficient to handle three times the level of interventions conducted after the Al-Haouz earthquake, establishing a national system for the immediate production and provision of relief equipment and materials. The locations of these platforms have been carefully selected based on an analysis of potential risks and according to safety standards and international practices, reflecting a strategic shift in risk management and strengthening national sovereignty in the area of relief.
