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A minute of national silence to “surround the Mahorais” after a devastating cyclone in Mayotte
Ten days after the passage of a cyclone which devastated the Mayotte archipelago, a minute of silence was observed Monday in France during a day of national mourning, so that “the Mahorais feel surrounded by an entire country ” according to François Bayrou. The Prime Minister, still busy composing his government, gathered staff in the courtyard of Matignon to observe the minute of silence which was held during the day of national mourning decreed by President Emmanuel Macron. This minute of silence “has the meaning of a communion in mourning. It has the meaning of solidarity for all those who are in the ordeal. It has the meaning of a commitment so that the national community is present, to rebuild Mayotte and make the Mahorais feel surrounded by an entire country”, said Prime Minister François Bayrou, at the end of this moment of contemplation. President Macron and his wife Brigitte stood on the steps of the Elysée to observe this minute, while all the flags were lowered to half-mast in France. More than 8,000 kilometers from France, the prefect of Mayotte François-Xavier Bieuville chaired a tribute ceremony on the Zakia Madi square, in Mamoudzou, in front of residents but also firefighters, police officers and gendarmes from Mayotte, who sang La Marseillaise a cappella at the end of the meditation. prefect, who spoke briefly before the minute of silence, stressed that the State had “made a commitment to do better for Mayotte”, before going to greet the inhabitants of this French archipelago in the ocean one by one. Indian, mostly destroyed on December 14 by cyclone Chido, of exceptional intensity. The most devastating cyclone that Mayotte has experienced in 90 years, destroyed the entire precarious habitat and caused colossal damage in the poorest department in France, where emergency services have since been hard at work restoring essential services such as water, electricity and communications networks.”90% of Mayotte is destroyed, 90% of homes no longer have a roof. We have no water, no food, help is still having trouble arriving in the areas,” Estelle Youssouffa, MP for the first constituency of Mayotte, expressed alarm Monday morning on France Inter. am with our population who have no water, no help. I desperately ask that we send the army to try to prevent us from falling into anarchy. We are looting the few houses that simply no longer have a roof. There was not enough aid, there is not enough relief,” she continued, saying she was “deeply outraged” by a political class whose “general obsession” is “reshuffle ” ministerial while the island “is in great humanitarian distress”. “In fact, we don't care about Mayotte. And that, frankly, is serious,” said the MP, overcome by emotion. The provisional toll from the natural disaster, facilitated by global warming, stands at 35 dead and around 2,500 injured, but the authorities , who fear a higher number of victims, have launched a research mission. From the Beauvau court, the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, recalled “the national solidarity towards our compatriots from Mayotte, who have been so harshly “I never thought I would see a French department in such a state of devastation and desolation. The landscapes that I had seen so green when I went to Mayotte in May, there was nothing left of them,” said Bruno Retailleau, assuring that “never have such logistics, so massive, so immediate, 'has been deployed' on a territory. In Mayotte, where a nighttime curfew remains in force, Emmanuel Macron also promised a special law to “rebuild Mayotte” and “put an end” to the slums, which could take two years, according to the new Prime Minister François Bayrou. In Mozambique, the cyclone caused the death of at least 94 people, according to local authorities. In Malawi, it killed 13 people.
