France to donate €5M in earthquake aid

France will give €5 million ($5.3M) to local and international NGOs operating in Morocco to aid earthquake responses efforts, the French foreign minister said Monday in an interview with CNN affiliate BFMTV. 

This comes after France was “among the first” to offer assistance to Morocco following the quake, but Rabat had not given an answer to the offer, she said, adding that Morocco has not refused the aid. 

French president Emmanuel Macron has had “numerous exchanges” with King Mohammed VI of Morocco since the earthquake, but they have not spoken, she said. 

The king was in France at the time of the earthquake but returned to his country on Saturday, the minister said. 

Four French citizens were killed in the earthquake, with a further 15 injured, she confirmed, adding that there are “a few” French citizens that authorities are still trying to reach. 

The king thanked Spain, Qatar, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates for sending aid, state-run broadcaster Al Aoula said Sunday.

Some context: While Spain said Sunday that Morocco had officially requested its aid — and that a plane of 56 Spanish rescue personnel had since arrived to help — it was not initially clear how many of the other international aid offers the Moroccan government has accepted.

The UN said on Friday that it had offered assistance on search and rescue, humanitarian and medical needs, but an official said at the time that Morocco was "deploying its own answer to the earthquake."