Many firefighters and rescuers from several departments, particularly in Occitanie, are leaving for Mayotte this Monday.
On the weekend of December 14 and 15, 2024, the Mayotte archipelago was hit by Cyclone Chido which caused catastrophic damage. Winds of more than 200 km/h uprooted trees, destroyed permanent houses and swept away precarious habitats. If the human toll is already heavy with 20 dead and several hundred injured, the prefect of Mayotte announced on Sunday that it could worsen considerably. The cyclone would have caused “certainly several hundred, perhaps even a few thousand” deaths.
Reinforcements begin to deploy to the French overseas department which now lacks everything. Hundreds of thousands of residents, especially those who lived in shanty towns that were dispersed by the winds, no longer have a roof under which to shelter, when the supply of water and food looks difficult.
Monday December 16, 2024, 9 firefighters from Tarn, including a nurse, left Occitanie to join the reinforcement system for the South Zone. That same Monday at 1:30 p.m., 28 firefighters from Gard took off from Nîmes-Garons airport towards Mayotte. Their mission will last 15 days as part of the ESCRIM (Rapid Civil Security Element for Medical Intervention), during which they will establish a field hospital.
The Gard firefighters will join a team made up of 90 rescuers (made up of firefighters, marine firefighters and rescuers). The field hospital will rely on the skills of an SDIS detachment leader, a surgeon, three doctors, a midwife, seven nurses, a laboratory technician, a radio manipulator , four health assistants, eight logisticians and a computer scientist.
Other reinforcements on departure, some already on site
Outside Occitanie, emergency services from several departments are being organized. In Île-de-France, a detachment of 62 personnel from the Paris fire brigade and the firefighters of Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines and Essonne are on their way to Mayotte after responding to the call from the Operational Center for Interministerial Crisis Management. Their mission will last 14 days.
The Mayotte archipelago can already count on the reinforcement of the Sdis teams from Reunion. As of Friday, December 13, before the passage of the Cyclone, 40 firefighters from Reunion Island with 70 Civil Security soldiers flew to the archipelago to be able to intervene immediately after the disaster.
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