PROCAMM: Promoting Earthquake-Resistant Construction with Natural Materials in Morocco

The earthquake that struck Morocco on 8 September 2023 caused widespread damage, particularly in rural and mountainous areas where stone and earth remain important construction materials. Post-earthquake assessments identified recurring vulnerabilities, including walls failing out of plane, missing ring beams, foundations built at different levels and construction on slopes.

PROCAMM - Promotion de la construction antisismique en matériaux naturels au Maroc - is a Moroccan-Swiss initiative designed to turn these lessons into practical and widely accessible knowledge. The project promotes construction methods that improve seismic safety while respecting local practices, cultural identity, environmental sustainability and current Moroccan standards.

At the centre of the project is a pilot development in Douzrou. Four workshop buildings will provide a classroom, kitchen, production room and storage space, complemented by a nursery school, landscaping and an open communal area. The site also functions as a chantier école, or construction school, offering regular theoretical and practical training for masons and other local building professionals.

The pilot explores natural stone, rammed earth and adobe alongside different reinforcement techniques. Solutions are assessed in terms of safety, durability, local availability, environmental impact, reproducibility and their ability to meet formal approval and insurance requirements. The project therefore connects traditional knowledge with engineering, building codes and contemporary quality assurance.

The work is organised around four complementary pillars. The first combines the pilot buildings with hands-on training. The second produces three practical manuals for rural craftspeople and self-builders, covering the full process from planning and permits to construction, finishing and maintenance. The manuals are being developed in French and Standard Arabic, using simple language, illustrations, exercises and examples of unsafe practices observed after the 2023 earthquake.

The third pillar creates exchange between Moroccan and Swiss universities, supporting conferences, student projects and research partnerships on natural materials and seismic resistance. The fourth develops educational videos and integrates the project's experience into academic teaching. Plans, manuals, training methods and educational resources are intended to be documented and shared freely through a public website.

PROCAMM demonstrates that earthquake safety and natural construction need not be opposing goals. By linking a real building project with craftspeople, engineers, architects, authorities and universities, it seeks to build confidence in locally rooted construction methods and make safer practice easier to understand, approve and reproduce.