On Saturday December 14, 2024, the 101st French department of Mayotte suffered the effects of a terrible cyclone called “Chido”, causing enormous material damage and human losses.
On this morning of December 27, 2024 info-chalon.com was able to have a long interview with inhabitants of this island in the Indian Ocean, who live and work there and with whom it was possible to obtain “on the ground” information. » and take stock of the situation.
First of all we must rebuild
Obviously, hearing the words of these active and united people in this territory, we must above all put the island back into working order so that it can be operational as before as quickly as possible.
They are very clear on one point: “We are not unaware of the outpouring of solidarity that is taking place but frankly it is not collections of non-perishable needs that we currently need, especially since this will be difficult, on site, to distribute equitably.
The urgent thing is to rebuild and we can say that there is a great resilience between us. Of course the metal sheets have returned to their places to cover the homes; as far as possible the water network has been restored while knowing that leaks are numerous and that it will be necessary to plan ahead to ensure the period when water is lacking; the means of communication are being restored (roads, internet) in places we still have to wait for the telephone.
For local actions in mainland France, it is better to get closer to organizations that know how to manage this type of aid rather than acting at the wrong time. »
Organized management
The Army, the Gendarmerie, the Prefect of Mayotte and his services are on site and organizing according to the needs of the moment because there are things that cannot wait. Schools and colleges were affected and their materials were sometimes looted to rebuild or sometimes resold. The rains these days cause damage to the interiors of homes or premises.
“Our priority is to allow children to continue their education, some are taking the Baccalaureate this year. It is also about managing the waste resulting from the cyclone but also household waste to avoid adding pollution to the damaged water network and there it is sometimes also necessary to manage elected officials, some of whom are overwhelmed or others who take advantage of it to create media or political effects. What we especially want is to let us rebuild and then we will examine the situation in order to clearly determine the needs towards which we should focus in order to be supported and helped. What we are sure of is that in two or three months we will still be in trouble and no one will remember the cyclone on Mayotte, having had a good conscience of having done a good deed for Christmas and yet it is starting of this period that we will undoubtedly need.
A little anger
Words which reveal a certain anger in the face of the facts, both on site and outside. For example, our interlocutors told us: “Certain facts are accepted by municipalities and who then come to release their anger in front of a microphone which will gargle it. Or there is reason to be a little angry when we know that parents have come to collect materials from schools to rebuild their houses while their own children are students in this school. »
Medical reinforcements
The health aspect and particularly with regard to the hospital, dispensaries and other care centers, the information that our interlocutors can give are mainly echoes received from nursing staff or a doctor from Médecin sans Frontière: “It seems that there are not so many people coming to seek treatment following the cyclone, but we cannot realize this since we are not on the scene ourselves. We know that reinforcements have arrived or will still arrive to reinforce the medical staff in place. On the other hand, according to the doctor, what we will have to think about in the coming weeks is reinforcement for mental health because the traumas are there and we don’t see them yet but they are starting to appear. »
We understand well after this long visual contact with our interlocutors that the situation remains very worrying, without forgetting the supply of cooking gas which is needed for cooking for example, but a certain stability is present for the moment.
The advice given is to turn to organizations that know how to manage this type of risk by making cash donations for example, then to wait for these organizations to ask for it before choosing aid such as non-perishable products which obviously take a long time to deliver given the distance and random reception, but also and above all difficult to distribute logically and honestly once arrived in this territory. This does not prevent us from remaining united with these French people overseas.
JC Reynaud
