The monarch, who was reportedly in France when the earthquake struck his country on September 8 but rapidly returned home, has made three public appearances since the disaster but has yet to address the nation.
Observers say that such reticence is characteristic of the king, who leads a royal house whose style is unique to the north African country and steers clear of grand public statements.
The earthquake killed close to 3,000 people in his country, with chances now fading of finding more survivors.
Shortly after the disaster, Mohammed VI appeared chairing an emergency meeting surrounded by high-ranking government and military officials.
The palace then issued a statement saying all rescue efforts were "under the orders and constant watch of his Majesty the King".
Three days later, visited a Marrakesh hospital and "inquired about the state of health of the injured" before donating blood, according to the official MAP news agency.
He chaired another meeting on September 14 at the Royal Palace in Rabat to launch a programme for lodging survivors in new homes. He made no public statements on any of these occasions.
- 'Doesn't talk' -
"He is somebody who puts in an enormous amount of work, but who doesn't talk. He's no braggart," Tahar ben Jelloun, a French-Moroccan writer, told AFP.
The monarch, who turned 60 this month, is credited with helping maintain stability in a volatile region -- in part through suppressing criticism -- as well as modernising the economy and pursuing assertive diplomacy.
"He embodies the Moroccan nation," said Luis Martinez, research director and North Africa specialist at political science school Sciences Po in Paris, describing the king as "a religious symbol in a very conservative society".
Since his coronation following the death of his father Hassan II on July 23, 1999, the monarch has retained a firm grip on economic policy, foreign affairs, and defence and security.
He has also pursued his country's modernisation with giant infrastructure and business projects.
They include the Tanger Med industrial port, the gigantic Noor solar power plant and the Tangier-Casablanca high-speed rail line, alongside the development of Morocco's automotive and aerospace industries, and more recently, green hydrogen projects and the "Made in Morocco" label.
Morocco nevertheless is at the bottom of the list of North African countries on the UN's human development index, and 10th among all African nations.
A quarter of the population cannot read or write, most of them women, according to the World Bank.
- 'Liberties retreated' -
Meanwhile, American magazine Forbes in 2015 put Mohammed VI's personal wealth at $5.7 billion.
Three years ago, French news outlets reported that he had acquired a townhouse near the Eiffel Tower in Paris for 80 million euros ($85 million at current rates).
In 2022, Mohammed VI spent 200 days abroad, according to unofficial estimates, and earlier this year spent three months in Gabon with now-toppled president Ali Bongo who is a friend.
An article published by the Economist this year said the king has been spending increasing time in the company of three brothers of German-Moroccan origin -- the Azaitars -- two of whom are mixed martial arts champions.
The monarch was staying in his Paris residence when news of the earthquake broke, according to French media including the Le Monde daily. He returned home immediately and Le Monde also noted he had recently been spending more time in the kingdom.
Political expression is restricted in Morocco. Criticism of the king, whose image is omnipresent not just in public buildings but also restaurants and cafes, is considered taboo.
Liberties "have retreated over the past 10 years", said Ahmed Benchemsi, spokesman for the North African branch of Human Rights Watch.
Reporters Without Borders has attributed spot number 144 to Morocco on its press freedom index.
"Nobody in the establishment will take any initiative without the king's assent," said Fouad Abdelmoumni, a human rights activist who had his phone hacked in 2019 and became the target of what he called "a daily campaign of denigration".
Children traumatised by Morocco 'nightmare' quake
Imi N'Tala, Morocco (AFP) Sept 15, 2023 -
Nine-year-old Moroccan girl Ibtissam Ait Iddar was fortunate to have been rescued from under the rubble, but like other children she remains traumatised by the earthquake that devastated her village.
"My father called me and I cried back 'I'm here, I'm here'," Ibtissam recalled five days after the disaster that left nearly 3,000 people dead and more than 5,600 injured.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake -- Morocco's strongest ever -- flattened entire villages like Ibtissam's hometown of Imi N'Tala and left tens of thousands of people homeless.
A week after it struck on September 8, Ibtissam and her family have sought refuge nearby with dozens of other families, living out of a tent.
But two of Ibtissam's friends, Mouna and Zineb, are not among the survivors.
"We used to go to school together even though we were not in the same class," she said.
Ibtissam's four-year-old sister and both her grandmothers were also killed in the quake, and now her mother, Naima Benhamou, says she is now "worried" about her daughter.
The girl wakes up often at night crying and shouts "Get me out, I've fallen", said Benhamou, expressing concern about her daughter's psychological state.
Ibtissam was pulled out from the rubble by her father and her uncle after their home was crushed by huge rocks that the quake caused to roll down the mountainside.
Imi N'Tala is located at an altitude of more than 1,400 metres (5,600 feet) near Mount Toubkal in the High Atlas mountains.
The village's houses are built on a narrow and winding road that runs the length of the mountain range, about 75 kilometres (46 miles) south of Marrakesh.
Survivors in the village, once home to 400 people, have said the quake killed 84 residents, including 20 children.
The stench of death fills the air, they have said.
On Wednesday, rescuers pulled a body from under rubble and struggled to search for five more.
- 'Stuck under rubble' -
Youssef Ait Raiss, 11, remembers how his family home "crumbled".
"We were stuck under the rubble," said the boy whose parents were away when the quake struck.
"We were with our grandmother. It was like a nightmare," added his brother Zakaria, 13.
The grandmother has since died while an older brother aged 16 is fighting for his life in a Marrakesh hospital.
Two of Youssef's classmates, Taoufik and Khaled, were also killed.
"We went to school together. We played together," he said.
His school near the village was badly damaged and classes have been suspended, a measure that has been taken in around 40 communities in the nearby provinces of Al Haouz, Chichaoua and Taroudant.
The UN's cultural organisation UNESCO has expressed concern over the immediate future of education in Morocco following the devastating quake.
"The earthquake affected a particularly rural and isolated area, encompassing a school population of around one million pupils and a teaching staff of more than 42,000 professionals," it said in a statement.
Ibtissam has said she was "shocked" to see her school damaged, according to her mother.
"She told me that if she cannot go back to school then we must leave here as soon as possible," Benhamou added.
But Ibtissam's uncle Mohamed Ait Toulkine vowed to make sure she goes to school.
"I'll do everything possible to send her to Marrakesh. It is important that she continues to study," he said.
Nearby a team of rescuers dug through the rubble to retrieve the body of Khadija Ouhssine's father-in-law.
Ouhssine, 32, also lost two of her children and her mother-in-law, all killed by the quake.
"Losing one's children is a feeling that no word can describe," she said, standing outside her flattened house.
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