The emotion was palpable, Monday December 23, 2024, Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, in Lorient. Ten days after the passage of Cyclone Chido, which ravaged the Mayotte archipelago, Saturday December 14, 2024, nearly 100 people gathered on this day of national mourning. A minute of silence was observed at 11 a.m.
“The time is for mourning, for emotion and for urgency. Then will come that of reconstruction. In contemporary history, this is the biggest climatic tragedy in our territory. In Lorient, there is a huge wave of solidarity, we have the desire to stay with the associations over the long term,” declared the mayor, Fabrice Loher.
300 Mahorais in the Lorient region
Among the participants, citizens who came to show their solidarity, elected officials and Mahorais. According to Bacar Bacar-Bamcolo, president of the Mayotte Breizh association, they represent a community of more than 300 people in the country of Lorient. This Monday morning, some of them still had no news from their loved ones. Like Hawa, who has lived in Lorient for more than ten years, and her nieces Oumi and Tassilima. “Our whole family is in the village of Acoua, located in the northwest. There, the damage is only material but there is no electricity or water. Fortunately, there are wells,” says Oumi.
Call for donations
Bacar Bacar-Bamcolo has lived in Lorient for eleven years. He says he hasn't slept for several days. “I’m almost more Breton than Mahorais,” he smiles. But I spent my childhood there. I want to highlight the beauty of this place. Today, everything is devastated, Mayotte is suffering.” The mayor, Fabrice Loher, recalls that financial donations are the priority for the moment. “A first work meeting was organized this morning. An initial aid of €10,000 was released. Other initiatives will be launched in the coming weeks,” he specifies.
