“For the moment, we are in worry and fear”: for three days, the large Comorian community of Marseille has been living in anxious anticipation of news from loved ones, while preparing to massively respond to the call help for the victims of Mayotte.
“For the moment, everyone is in amazement,” notes Ismaël Aboudou, president of the Union of Comorians of France (UFC), based in Marseille, nicknamed the “fifth island of the Comoros” and which, according to sources, welcomes between 80,000 and 150,000 people from the archipelago, Comorians, dual nationals and French from Mayotte.
“The organization of material solidarity is premature, he believes. We first try to know who is alive or dead”, after the devastating passage of the cyclone which ravaged the French department of Mayotte, including nearly half the population is made up of immigrants from neighboring Comoros or other African countries, most of them now homeless.
The day after the cyclone, the UFC and other associations from the Marseille diaspora, united within a collective, launched a call for “an administrative moratorium” so that “all victims”, French or foreign, ” in an irregular situation”, “in administrative detention” or unaccompanied minors, benefit from “dignified care, without distinction”.
“Now is not the time for selective empathy,” the associations warned in a press release.
“We are thinking, in Marseille, Dunkirk, La Courneuve, about getting organized, but we are all shocked, we are waiting for news from loved ones…”, also says Nassurdine Haidari, president of the Representative Council of French people of Comorian origin. “People are desperately trying to call, we know each other so we try to get news on social networks, but everything is devastated,” he said, also worrying about “all those who did not have papers” .
“We are all in fear”
“We are especially worried, we are all afraid,” confirms Mohamed Itrisso, co-founder of the SOS Comores association. “We try to contact our loved ones but it’s hard, super complicated. They no longer have electricity, so the phones no longer have batteries.”
In the premises of the Maison du Partage, in the very popular 3rd arrondissement of Marseille, the association “Familles en action”, which supports young people mainly from the Comoros, has already launched an appeal for donations.
Ben Yamin Halifa, a 25-year-old from Mahor, came to help on Tuesday to sort and pack clothes, which should leave in a container bound for Lyon, then Reunion: “Mayotte is my home, I have my brothers , a lot of aunts and cousins… I haven’t had any news since it happened, I just saw the images,” he said.
“There is going to be a health emergency”
Donation collections, online prize pools, private initiatives are multiplying on social networks: “Good will is good, but we have to coordinate all of that. We have to be efficient and not disperse ourselves,” says Johar for his part. Salimini, community activist of Comorian origin, born in Marseille.
“There is going to be a health emergency, all the infrastructure is destroyed, there is no water, no electricity. The delivery of aid is not possible in quantity because the airport is not is not operational”, he notes, indicating that he is awaiting coordination from the public authorities.
“As long as security is not there, we cannot send donations, foodstuffs. We have to be patient,” also believes Rassinia Boina Hassani, a Mahorese woman received with other members of associations and civil society on Tuesday by Mayor Benoît Payan.
The mayor of Marseille, who announced an initial emergency aid of 50,000 euros and the sending of several units from the Marseille fire brigade battalion, is also waiting for “the green light” from the authorities to receive the donations at the town hall and that “we can transport them”. “As soon as we know exactly what the population needs, we will open the town hall and we will appeal to the solidarity of the Marseillais,” he assured.
A sign of the strong emotion aroused by the tragedy of Mayotte in the Marseille city, several emblematic monuments turned off their lights Tuesday evening, “in tribute to the victims”.
with © Agence France-Presse
