The Mayotte archipelago, devastated by Cyclone Chino, suffered “probably the most serious natural disaster in the history of France for several centuries”, Prime Minister François Bayrou said on Wednesday. “The tragedy of Mayotte is probably the most serious natural disaster in the history of France for several centuries,” he wrote Bayrou in a letter addressed to the political forces, invited Thursday to Matignon.
It hits an archipelago “populated by women and men, families and communities who have led the fight for decades to be French,” added the Prime Minister. The latest provisional toll from the Ministry of the Interior shows 31 deaths, but the authorities fear that it will increase in the coming days.
Among these 31 victims, 22 died in hospital and 9 were recorded by the municipalities, he details, adding that 45 injured were treated in absolute emergency and 1,373 in relative emergency, after the passage of the cyclone which devastated the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean on Saturday.
The number of deaths recorded at this stage “does not correspond to the reality of the 100,000 people who live in precarious housing”, notes the ministry in a situation update. The prefect of Mayotte therefore requested “the establishment of a search mission for the dead”, according to this source, stressing that “70% of the inhabitants were seriously affected”. In the archipelago, the damage is “major”, recalls the ministry.
The airport, whose control tower and signaling elements were destroyed, still cannot accommodate commercial flights. At the hospital, “there is between 40 and 45% of activity which is gradually resuming,” according to the ministry. As for the roads, “very obstructed by falling trees and various debris”, they are “in the process of being cleared”, continues the Ministry of the Interior. Electricity is “being restored” and the telephone network, “80% unavailable”, “under repair”. Finally, “50% of the water will be restored within 48 hours and 95% within 7 days”, promises the ministry, assuring that there was “no epidemic alert to date”.