How is relief organized in the Mayotte archipelago devastated by Cyclone Chido? Interview with Colonel Alexandre Jouassard, spokesperson for Civil Security in France and deputy head of the Operational Center for Interministerial Crisis Management (Cogic).
What is the situation currently in Mayotte?
It is a very large-scale disaster, our teams are facing a spectacle of disaster, images which are very hard to see.
We began a first phase of reconnaissance which was made possible because we had anticipated the risk, 110 rescuers and firefighters experienced the passage of the cyclone alongside the population and were therefore able to be engaged very quickly and give us valuable information.
We are massively committing additional resources, we are using the air bridge set up between Reunion and Mayotte to arrive on site. Within three to four days, 800 people will be in the area to carry out three major missions. First, help people. There are potentially still people under the rubble. Second, transmit food and water.
Third, round up the injured people. This is why we sent the Escrim hospital (Rapid Civil Security Element for Medical Intervention) from Nîmes, with seasoned personnel, nurses, doctors, firefighters, rescuers, who will be able to accommodate the population. A good number of teams come from this region, but we have reinforcements arriving from everywhere.
We are also trying to recreate as quickly as possible maximum accessibility on the island, there are piles of debris everywhere, severed trees, you cannot go 500 meters without having difficulty progressing. We have sent specialized means to drill and cut out the rubbish and structures that litter the roads. The port has been impacted but remains functional, it will be able to accommodate large boats.
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The airport was also affected, particularly the control tower, but we were able to use it very quickly. Moreover, the first plane that was able to land in Mayotte was a civil security device initially present in Reunion to put out forest fires. It was reconditioned to transport personnel and freight before the cyclone. We hope to be able to use the airport day and night, for the moment it is only during the day, this limits our rotations.
We have also sent personnel to help the authorities function well and coordinate during this period.
Your first mission is to try to find survivors, how do you actually go about this?
The first thing is to recognize the areas most at risk. We rely on drones and satellite images. We activated Copernicus, thanks to the European civil protection mechanism. It is a satellite that allowed us to map the island before and after the disaster.
This is very valuable for the teams on site, since it allows them to know where they are going to plan, which district has not yet been able to be visited, before moving on to the next one.
It’s a real painstaking job and it’s a race against time, the first hours are precious, if people are seriously injured, or between life and death and must be saved, it’s now that it happens. pass. Our teams are fully mobilized on this mission.
How long do you have hope of finding survivors?
Several days based on the experiences we have had, whether in Haiti, or during other disasters, trapped people can stay alive for several days if they have water nearby. We have this hope.
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The survival rate also depends on the organization put in place at the time, or before the passage of the cyclone. People may have gathered in sheltered areas but are unable to communicate. The configuration is very complicated in Mayotte, unlike Saint-Martin during the passage of Hurricane Irma (in 2017), there were, this time, very few permanent structures. These light homes in Mayotte were already at high risk with winds of 130-140 km/h. So with winds at 220 km per hour, they didn’t last a few minutes.
No assessment has been possible at this stage, can we fear hundreds, even thousands of deaths, as envisaged by the prefectural authorities?
It’s too complicated for us to position ourselves on the balance sheet. Firstly because we know from experience that the figures mentioned in the first days can evolve upwards, then downwards. We prefer to have clear elements, about which we have certainty.
On the other hand, the majority of the island’s population is Muslim with a tradition of burying the dead 24 hours after death. In certain villages, victims have already been buried without us having the information. And the forces are really totally focused right now on the hopes of survival and the work that needs to be done to preserve human lives. For the assessments, you will still have to wait a few days.
How is the population of Mayotte coping with this tragedy?
The population is resilient because the territory of Mayotte has already been strongly impacted by other disasters, notably the water crisis last year, during which we did what was necessary to distribute it to the entire population. . There was then an epidemic of cholera on the island. This is a population which unfortunately has been marked by several disasters or several successive tragedies and is used to seeing rescuers.
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We must now rebuild, move forward and we have poignant testimonies from residents of Mayotte who have nothing left, but who want to look forward to the future. But for some there is also a state of astonishment, everything is devastated, the houses have been blown away. So obviously, we have a part of the population who, perhaps, are not affected in their flesh, but who are at the psychological level. This will be taken into account over the coming months and years.
How is the health and epidemic risk taken into account?
This is a risk that existed before the cyclone hit and which is now reinforced. The international crisis unit has been activated for this, all ministries and general directorates are talking to each other and coordinating to face the many challenges raised by this crisis.
