BALTIMORE — The death toll keeps rising after a major earthquake in Morocco just a few days ago; as of Monday, just shy of three thousand people are reportedly dead.
A group in our backyard is trying to make a difference for those hurt by the disaster.
"It's been really tough witnessing what's happening," said Safiya Fellous, a Baltimore County resident and member of the Moroccan American Association of Maryland.
Fellous was born and raised in Morocco, moved to the U.S. after high school, and now lives in Maryland.
Fellous revisits Morocco every year, and seeing those somber scenes of the country all over TV and social media is understandably difficult after a major earthquake there.
"It hit home, because my sister-in-law's family lost seven people. It's really been difficult to witness that, but we're trying to get it together, stay, stay powerful and help those people," Fellous added.
The Moroccan community in Maryland is taking action to help those earthquake victims. They've started raising funds with a GoFundMe page.
In Morocco, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake caused devastation over the weekend. The remote areas of the country hit by the quake are suffering, and it's not easy to get them help.
"It's really hard, you know? Brings us to tears, you know?" said Ahmed Zouita, president of the Moroccan American Association of Maryland.
"We try to collect as much as we can, because it was really devastating and a lot of people lost lives," Zouita told WMAR.
As of Monday night, the group's GoFundMe had already raised roughly $4,000.
