Shortly after 11 p.m. local time on Friday, Sept. 8, an earthquake struck Morocco, southwest of Marrakesh, devastating villages at the base of the High Atlas mountains. More than 2,900 people were reported killed and more than 5,500 injured.
I had taught at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat for a week in mid-July. While Rabat is roughly 200 miles north of Marrakesh, UM6P has a Marrakesh campus, and the students and staff with whom I worked were from various parts of Morocco. A handful of students I had taught at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) are also from Morocco, and each happened to be there when the earthquake struck.
Soon I was receiving texts from family, friends and colleagues to ask if everyone I knew there was accounted for. Several asked for advice on the best way to donate to help with the relief. Initially, I did not know the answer to their questions.
I texted the people at UM6P who I worked with to see if everyone was accounted for and was relieved they were. Almost immediately, students and staff at UM6P assembled packages of supplies to get to those affected by the earthquake.
I also checked in on my former graduate students from HKS who were in Morocco when the earthquake struck. They too were accounted for.
The question loomed, however, of how best to donate, given the shared desire to donate to efforts that had the best chance of directly helping those affected. In such situations, I always try to do enough research to make sure efforts are legitimate and help the people who most need help.
One of my go-to organizations of late has been World Central Kitchen (https://wck.org), the nonprofit run by chef José Andrés. Whether it’s in Puerto Rico, Texas or Ukraine, World Central Kitchen seems to have been able to rapidly set up operations to get food to those affected by disaster. Within days, World Central Kitchen was set up in Morocco.
I also asked my former HKS students who were back in Morocco for advice. Several of them along with other Boston-area students with Morocco ties set up a GoFundMe account (https://www.gofundme.com/f/boston-moroccan-students-unite-for-morocco) that would funnel funds collected to organizations they had carefully vetted for their effectiveness.
I usually rely on sites like CharityNavigator (www.CharityNavigator.org) to assess the reputation and effectiveness of any charity. World Central Kitchen has a top rating. My students’ GoFundMe effort is not a registered nonprofit, so they have no CharityNavigator rating. Nevertheless, I persist in believing they applied the same rigor to the work they did as graduate students to the vetting of charities that could best help their families and neighbors.
There is no obligation for anyone to give anything to any causes they don’t care to. It’s impossible for most people to donate to help support those affected by all of the many disasters and crises that hit the world.
But for those who want to help the victims of the Morocco earthquake, the right thing is to try to do so in whatever way they believe might most help those in need.
For me, it might be donating to World Central Kitchen or my former students’ GoFundMe effort. There are, however, plenty of other ways to help. I trust you to find yours.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter @jseglin
(c) 2023 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
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