Sandi Blanao, 64, wandered through three stores before finding bottles of water in a supermarket in Mamoudzou. “To get it, you have to be strong,” whispers the man as he places two packs – the maximum quantity allowed by the store – in his cart.
A few hours later, the five pallets of bottled water that had just been placed in the central aisle are already empty, leaving dozens of customers in disarray. When a new shipment arrives, everyone rushes for it.
More than five weeks after the passage of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte, drinking water stalls in the French department of the Indian Ocean remain under attack.
However, there is no supply problem, assures AFP a distributor who wishes to remain anonymous. But a combination of problems, between a greater demand due to the absence of water from which part of the population still suffers, the distrust of the Mahorais for the tap and the delays necessary for the arrival of new orders.
In the meantime, the Mahorais are using the D system, starting with word of mouth to find out where to find bottles. And they no longer ask any questions.
“As soon as there is some, we take some,” summarizes Antoy Bacar, 45, in the aisles of the Sodifram supermarket – a local group – in Hauts-Vallons, in the north of the departmental capital, where a few bottles are still on the shelves.
The director of the establishment, Ramzi Boukhris, recognizes that it is complicated to meet customer demand since the passage of the cyclone, which left 39 dead and around 2,500 injured, according to a still provisional report.
Despite the four to six pallets of water he receives daily, sales have tripled, he assures. And as orders usually take three months to arrive at the port of Longoni, the gateway for products imported to Mayotte, “it's normal that what was planned is not sufficient” currently, he explains.
According to him, it will still be a month before the arrival of the readjusted orders resolves the crisis.
-– “Insufficient” distributions –
This rush on bottles also reflects a general distrust of tap water. Regular cuts cause it to stagnate in the pipes and encourage the development of bacteria, to the point that SMAE – Mahoraise des Eaux, to which water distribution is delegated, regularly recommends boiling it before consumption.
To alleviate the crisis, the prefecture, with Civil Security and the municipalities, is organizing bottle distributions. But they are struggling to keep up with needs.
In Chirongui, in the south of the island, the Communal Social Action Center (CCAS) has restricted access to water to vulnerable people: elderly people, pregnant women and people with disabilities.
If the town of 8,000 inhabitants – grouped into several villages – previously received more than 300 packs of water per day, these figures have dropped to less than 70 over the past two weeks. “This is becoming insufficient,” regrets the director of CCAS, Asmine Insa.
The prefecture, which claimed in mid-January to have distributed more than two million liters of water since the cyclone, did not respond to requests from AFP but several other municipalities would be in this case.
Those who can no longer benefit from the distribution are worried. “If there is none in store, everyone is vulnerable,” laments Kassime Madi, a resident of Chirongui.
The grocery store located a few steps from his home does not have water on the shelves. At the supermarket in Malamani, the neighboring village, there are only a few small bottles. “You have to be lucky and arrive at the right time,” comments the man, forced to fall back on packs sold for 10 euros in certain shops, despite the price freeze decreed by the government.
