France observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims

Recollection after the disaster. France observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte, Monday December 23, on the occasion of a day of national mourning decreed by Emmanuel Macron, and ten days after the cyclone which devastated the archipelago . Flags were also lowered to half-mast.

“It’s a very moving minute of silence,” declared Prime Minister François Bayrou shortly after 11 a.m. “She has the sense of communion in mourning, she has the sense of solidarity for those who are going through an ordeal”he continued from Matignon, also wishing “make the Mahorais feel surrounded by an entire country”. President Emmanuel Macron took part in the minute of silence from the main courtyard of the Elysée.

“The French unite to express national solidarity with our compatriots in Mayotte who have been so hard hit”declared, for his part, the resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, in the Beauvau courtyard. “I never thought I would see a French department in such a state of devastation, of desolation”he added before the minute of silence, with a serious tone.

In Mayotte, prefect François-Xavier Bieuville also observed the minute of silence at 1 p.m. local time. From Mamoudzou, he recalled the “wilderness of nature” suffered by the Mahorese population. “Many of us have lost everything“, he lamented. Referring to the minute of silence, he added: “By this gesture, the entire nation recognizes the pain of those who lost their loved ones.”