“Tell the people you love that you are alive.” Thanks to Télécoms Sans Frontières, the victims of Mayotte are connected again

Three weeks after the passage of Cyclone Chido, the devastated island of Mayotte has still not recovered its electricity or telephone network. In certain areas, the Mahorais still do not know whether their loved ones were spared or not. Based in Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), the NGO Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) sent a team there to allow as many people as possible to reconnect.

Since December 22, a TSF team of four people has been able to reach Mayotte. Every day, the neo-Aquitaine humanitarian telephony NGO measures the scope of the aid it represents for disaster victims, while waiting for operators to be able to restore the network.

The island has been cut off from the world for three weeks. Over most of the country, the electricity network remains faulty. And many residents cannot recharge their phones to give or receive news from their loved ones. A nameless anguish in which they have been plunged since Chido's visit.

Thanks to TSF technology, residents can have access to Wi-Fi or a satellite phone. To do this, the Telecoms technical team determines isolated areas where they can install their device for a few hours. Using posters symbolizing the Wi-FI acronym, the NGO makes it clear that free access is possible. The technicians are also helped by an interpreter who speaks the local language, and by collaborating with already established associations such as Médecins du monde, for example.

Very quickly, in villages or slums, the news spreads, especially when the operation is coupled with water distribution. And there, faces light up when the connection is finally established.

We see big smiles, sometimes people are very moved. We suspect that it's not always good news… At least they know.

Inès Guittonneau

Member of the Pau NGO Télécoms Sans Frontières

These connection points allow residents to contact their loved ones over a period of two or three hours during which the equipment is positioned. “99% of our operations are carried out connected to the car“, smiles Inès Guittoneau who, even for her first mission, seems accustomed to the D system inherent to the post-disaster emergency.

The humanitarian technician describes the welcome given to the team and which she perceives in the behavior or words of each person, the “intense relief“that these communications represent.

Just after the cyclone passed, “some had walked several hours to get to the capital where the reception was received”, says the TSF member.

It's a priority to tell the people you love that you're alive and doing well.

Inès Guittonneau,

member of the NGO Télécoms Sans Frontières

Thanks to the TSF system, some Mahorais managed to contact their loved ones for the first time since the cyclone hit three weeks ago.

VIDEO. See the report on the intervention of the NGO TSF on the island of Mayotte ►►

The mission of TSF technicians is also to try to reach all populations. Inès Guittonneau specifies that as their operations progress, they become aware of different issues. “In the villages, people essentially need access to wifi. In the slums, because we lack electricity and we often try to contact the Comoros, it is more the satellite telephone which is popular for call a landline and not a smartphone.

For the moment, the NGO TSF has carried out around fifteen operations in Mayotte and estimates the number of people who have benefited from its action across the entire island at 1,300. It is difficult to say how long the four Palois will have to remain there, because their action responds to a real need. A week or two, but they probably won't be able to stay longer.