How to help Mayotte from Quimper?

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The passage of Cyclone Chido, Saturday December 14, 2024, caused monstrous damage to theisland of Mayotte. A provisional report shows 22 dead and more than a thousand injured.

The Mahorese community of Quimper (Finistère) fears that there will be thousands of deaths. “I feel that behind all these sheets of metal, there are more bodies,” confides Djaouhari Fabi. With three other friends, she decided to help the people of Mahor by organizing a collection at home for everyone in Penhars.

Above all, they are waiting for children’s clothes, water, food, hygiene products, shoes, baby bottles, milk and even cans of food. In short, basic necessities.

Waiting for news from their loved ones

Stamadati Issoufa, Djaouhari Fabi, Natacha Soifoudine and Samaouya Madi-Mari are all four Mahoraises. Since the cyclone hit, they have been waiting.

“This morning we heard from my in-laws. They are doing well but they no longer have a roof over their heads,” says Samaouya Madi-Mari.

Djaouhari Fabi is very worried. His parents live in the north of the island, in the village of Acoua. She was due to visit them in June 2025. Her sister is also there.

“Normally, I have my sister on the phone every day. The last time was Friday evening. Since then, she has just sent a group voice message to the family to say that they are alive, but that there is a lot of damage. She and my mother are alive, that’s what’s most important. But I have no news from my father.”

The sister of one of the initiators of the collection, Natacha Soifoudine, is a technician in the laboratory of the Mayotte hospital center. Since the cyclone, her role has changed, as she explains on the phone:

“I have to welcome the injured. We set up tents to accommodate them. But for now, we are in the process of clearing all the trees. The cyclone destroyed the management department. There is no longer a psychiatric service either. In the current state, it is impossible to accommodate the injured.”

When they do not receive videos from their family on site, due to lack of network, the Mahoraises of Quimper track the news on the social networks Discord and Snapchat and the main radio station of the Radio Mayotte-Lagon department, their main sources of information.

Help from Quimper Western Brittany

For its part, the Quimper Western Brittany agglomeration (QBO) participates in the “ AMF/Mayotte solidarity »set up by the association of Mayors of France.

“At the community council on Thursday, December 19, 2024, we will propose a vote for aid to Mayotte. We really want to act on financial donations with a check for 5000 euros. »

Quimper Bretagne Ouest and the Red Cross, at the national level, called on the public for donations.

Practical information.
Collection at the MPT of Penhars, 39 boulevard de Bretagne in Quimper. Red Cross donations on https://donner.croix-rouge.fr/urgence-mayotte/ (or by check payable to: French Red Cross – Emergency Mayotte – 75678 Paris Cedex 14)
Quimper town hall also appealed for donations on the site: https://www.protection-civile.org/

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