In the archipelago governed by France it is a race against time to help those affected by the devastation of Saturday 14 December. In addition to the heavy human toll, there is the risk of a massive food crisis, explains Marc Bulteau, delegate of Secours Catholique – Caritas France.
Alexandra Sirgant – Vatican City
The latest toll speaks of 21 deaths, but the authorities believe there could be hundreds. Rescuers are still pouring into the French archipelago of Mayotte in the hope of finding survivors under the rubble, 48 hours after Cyclone Chido passed through. Marc Bulteau is the local delegate for Secours Catholique-Caritas France. Currently stuck in Anjouan, a Comoros island about a hundred kilometers from Mayotte, the Caritas delegate has been in constant contact for 48 hours with his teams on site, who have described the situation as “apocalyptic”.
What feedback do you receive from Mayotte?
The situation is no longer catastrophic, it is apocalyptic, we must not be afraid of words. Some compare the archipelago to bombed-out cities. We had about 100,000 people living in precarious housing, in other words slums, and everything was razed to the ground, there was nothing left standing. This means that today there are at least 100,000 homeless people, and a large part of them are ‘illegal’ migrants, therefore often reluctant to go to the safety spaces organized by the State, because they are very afraid of being evicted. As for ‘solid’ homes, some buildings built according to anti-seismic regulations were also affected. I’m thinking of the venue of “Mayotte La Première”, for example. This is the local television station, whose building had just been inaugurated according to completely modern standards, yet it was fully impacted. Mayotte-Dzaoudzi airport has suffered serious damage and the control tower is no longer operational, so only military planes can land. Some of the waterways connecting Grande-Terre and Petite-Terre, Mayotte’s two main islands, are unusable and the only two that appear to be functioning are used for emergency supplies and rescue operations.
A satellite image shows the devastation of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte
The provisional death toll is currently 21 people, but authorities fear it could be hundreds…
The count will be extremely complicated for at least two reasons: the first is that undocumented migrants will not necessarily turn to the authorities to report funerals they attended. The second is that, because we are in an Islamic land, for many people the deceased must be buried within 24 hours, which have expired. So we rely a lot on word of mouth to arrive at a figure that is as close to reality as possible, but in any case it will be very complicated. Since Monday, relief efforts have managed to reach the entire island, and we will probably discover the number of people who died under the rubble, not to mention the seriously injured. There are many of them and the hospital is currently overloaded with urgent cases. The situation is truly apocalyptic, with interruptions to water, electricity and looting. Two major problems emerged: access to drinking water and food.
The emergency services are now in a race against time, because after such an event does every hour matter?
Absolutely important, it’s complicated, but we must never forget that the first to help are the locals themselves. There is talk of a few dozen rescuers and firefighters arriving from mainland France, or from other places, but we must never forget that the first responders are the locals themselves. I saw our volunteers from Secours Catholique, who barely found time to deal with what was happening in their homes. Added to this is the problem of Mayotte’s insular nature. Faced with such a cataclysm, we have woefully inadequate public safety resources. The airlift is currently in poor condition and only military aircraft are allowed to land. It will take days for the boats to arrive. So we really have to rely on the commitment and resistance of the population because, in any case, if we want to save lives, we can’t act in three days, but now.
A French plane and some supplies destined for Mayotte
How do Secours Catholique volunteers intervene in Mayotte?
We have five employees and around 80 volunteers on site, and we have to assist between 300 and 400 people. So, little by little, we begin to have some news and, thank God, for the moment there have been no serious injuries or deaths among our volunteers. On the other hand, many of them lived in slums and no longer have a roof over their heads. Our priority is to resume contact with everyone, evaluate their needs, and the same goes for the people we welcome.
Do you fear a mass food crisis?
Stocks here are extremely low. The planes will bring medicines and all the essentials, as far as food is concerned the need is enormous, but it can only be brought by ship, but the distance is long, we are on the other side of the world, and it takes a long time to arrive . I believe it will take a decade to recover, because it is the biggest cyclone since at least 1934. Then there is also everything to do with food security: agricultural production has been wiped out. There is nothing left. All food production, all fruit trees have collapsed. It’s a real catastrophe. And it couldn’t have been worse, as the cyclone passed right over Mayotte.
