Hit by devastating floods in December 2025, which resulted in significant human and material losses, the city of Safi has turned its focus to rebuilding and resuming activities. While the main efforts are concentrated on infrastructure, housing, and affected businesses, local stakeholders are working to ensure that the city's heritage is also included in this large-scale project. The city of Safi / Ph. Visit Morocco ‹ › With at least 37 dead and 14 injured, Safi is still nursing its wounds after the floods of December 14, 2025, the deadliest natural disaster to hit Morocco in the past decade. Two months later, local authorities and civil society actors are coordinating their efforts around a broader reconstruction vision. While infrastructure, housing, and businesses remain top priorities, the city's rich heritage has not been forgotten. Several initiatives are now under consideration to enhance Safi's historical legacy, Mohamed Mennis, president of the Safi Memory Association, told Yabiladi. He pointed to proposals including the rehabilitation of the childhood home of Moroccan writer Edmond Amran El Maleh (1917–2010), as well as the iconic church built around 1519, a landmark of the city's 16th-century history. The House of Edmond Amran El Maleh and the Church The idea of classifying the writer's childhood home as part of the city's protected heritage has been circulating for some time. Mohamed Mennis stresses «the great symbolism of the place, as a witness to the brief years spent by the late author in his hometown before he left for Essaouira». The childhood home of Edmond Amran El Maleh in Safi / DR To move the project forward, the association has «initiated contacts with the author's heirs and family in Canada to explore possible administrative procedures». «Following the reconstruction and renovation projects launched after the December 2025 floods, we wanted to revive this initiative and ensure it becomes an integral part of this major program, alongside other highly symbolic buildings in the city, especially since the house has been deteriorating for years and is currently occupied by squatters», Mennis said. For the president of Safi Memory, the tragedy of the floods and the mourning caused by the human losses should become an opportunity. These challenges, he argues, «must give birth to a new life for the city: one marked by large-scale reconstruction that preserves human dignity, while fully integrating a heritage dimension». The association is also seeking to enhance the city's historic church. «We have already negotiated with the Spanish Embassy to acquire the building and transform it into a Research and Study Center dedicated to Safi», he explained. He recalled the strong symbolic value of this historic structure, which is also currently squatted. A draft agreement has been formalized, and 90,000 dirhams have already been raised for the project. To carry out these initiatives, the organization is working closely with civil society actors, local authorities, and the Safi Directorate of Culture. «We are in constant contact, and the department supports us in all our efforts», Mennis said, adding that the governors of both the province and the region have been kept informed. A Broader Effort to Enhance Safi's Heritage These initiatives were recently highlighted during a study day devoted to «the restoration, rehabilitation, and enhancement of the architectural heritage of Safi's old city». The meeting brought together specialists and representatives from 19 historic cities to exchange best practices and underline the importance of integrating heritage considerations into reconstruction efforts. According to participants, «the rehabilitation program for flood-affected areas is already having a positive impact on the city, particularly in preserving the architectural heritage of the old city and strengthening its cultural influence as a driver of economic, social, and tourism development». At the initiative of Safi Memory and the Coalition for the Memory of Morocco, specialists gathered on February 14 at the City of Culture and Arts in Safi to issue several recommendations. They called on «public and private actors to safeguard the architectural identity of the old city and to involve experts and engineers specialized in heritage rehabilitation». Participants also advocated for «enhancing both the tangible and intangible heritage of the old city, completing the classification process of its historic monuments, and reallocating heritage buildings and urban spaces for cultural, tourism, and economic purposes». Furthermore, they recommended «capitalizing on the rich cultural, historical, and civilizational heritage of Safi's old city to open new avenues for local development, integrating residents into the economic fabric, notably through the revitalization of traditional crafts and trades that form part of the city's intangible heritage». At the same time, they called for «intensifying efforts to inventory and document all expressions of intangible heritage», as well as for «institutionalizing cooperation between civil society and heritage stakeholders through the creation of an 'Old City Foundation'». Conceived as a consultative mechanism, this entity would contribute to «the effective coordination and management of public and community interventions» in Safi's old city. The recommendations also addressed «the relocation of vulnerable groups living in substandard housing within the framework of urban policy, through programs that preserve the dignity of citizens».
