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Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers.

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers telling stories from around the world.

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From Our Own Correspondent: Morocco: Tragedy in the High Atlas Mountains

16/09/2023

Morocco: Tragedy in the High Atlas Mountains

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, Morocco: Tragedy in the High Atlas Mountains

Surveying the colossal damage in one mountain-side community after the earthquake struck.

Our correspondent visits Amizmiz, a town in the Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh where homes were destroyed and several lives were lost after the earthquake in Morocco last week.

Stories from Morocco, Gabon, Pakistan, Norway and Canada

A community in the High Atlas Mountains grapples with the devastation wrought by the strongest earthquake to hit Morocco in more than one hundred years. James Copnall visited Amizmiz where several lives were lost and homes destroyed and a harsh winter lies ahead.

The West African country of Gabon has become the latest in the region to witness a military coup, overthrowing the government of President Ali Bongo, scion of the Bongo dynasty. Catherine Norris-Trent encountered jubilation on the streets of Libreville - but asks whether pledges of democratic elections will be fulfilled.

In Pakistan, we followed the search in the country for three relatives of Sara Sharif, the ten-year old who was found dead in Woking. Her father, step-mother and Uncle have now been charged with her murder since they returned to the UK. Caroline Davies visited Sara's grandfather in his village in Punjab.

On the Norway-Russian border, there used to be a steady stream of visitors, but the war in Ukraine changed that. It remains open but Norwegians have introduced more checks on those coming over. John Murphy found a more active border in the waters of a river nearby where locals are battling to keep out a different kind of visitor.

As he returns from paternity leave, our Rome correspondent, Mark Lowen, recounts his experience of becoming a father using a surrogate in Canada, even as Italy moves to ban its nationals from engaging a surrogate abroad. 

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Bridget Harney

(Image: Locals remove a refrigerator from a collapsed building as clearing work takes place in Morocco, 12 September 2023. Credit: Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

00:45 Earthquake in the High Atlas Mountains
06:19 The military coup in Gabon
11:58 Searching for the parents of Sara Sharif
16:51 Norway's salmon invaders
22:24 Surrogacy and fatherhood in Canada

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