In Mayotte, 60,000 deaths after the passage of Cyclone Chido? Macron wants to remain “very cautious”

MAYOTTE – A call for caution five days after the passage of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte. While the figure of 60,000 deaths began to circulate this Thursday, December 19, President Emmanuel Macron, who arrived on site during the day, did not want to provide any assessment.

It all started with information from Réunion La 1ère early this morning. In a tweet, the channel relayed an estimate from rescuers deployed in Mayotte giving this figure of 60,000 deaths on the island. The tweet has since been deleted. Questioned by a journalist on the same social network a little later, the media justified: “The toll is likely to be heavy, but at this stage it is impossible to give an official figure for this disaster. »

This unofficial assessment was nevertheless subsequently taken up by several political figures such as the ecologist Mélanie Vogel and the ex-LR Aurélien Pradié, but also by the Attac association. At the time of writing, the latest report from the Ministry of the Interior puts the number of dead at 31 and the number of injured at 2,100.

“It is likely that there are many more victims”

Unsurprisingly, Emmanuel Macron was questioned about this figure of 60,000 deaths which has spread without being confirmed. “I will be very careful. I think that the figure, there is nothing to corroborate it”declared the head of State. “It is likely that there are many more victims” than what the official report indicates, he also underlined.

Counting the victims is very complicated to do for several reasons, particularly linked to the Muslim religion which is very present in the archipelago and which requires burying the deceased 24 hours after their death. Among the other causes of the difficulties in identifying victims, the fact that many people are irregular in the country and that the most precarious live in slums which have disappeared from the map because of the violence of the phenomenon.

In this complicated context, Emmanuel Macron said “hope(s) that additional victims will be identified”while emphasizing that he could not “not give a figure”. The Minister of the Interior, for his part, warned that it would be necessary “expect a very likely discrepancy between the official count of deaths and reality”.

Also see on HuffPost :