Keystone-SDA
National solidarity is beginning to be organized in the French archipelago of Mayotte after the devastating and deadly passage of Cyclone Chido. President Emmanuel Macron deplored a “tragedy” and announced that he would go there “in the coming days”.
This content was published on
December 17, 2024 – 05:08
(Keystone-ATS) Three days after the passage of this cyclone, the most intense that Mayotte has experienced in 90 years, the battered archipelago is lacking everything, and residents are alarmed by the deteriorating health situation.
“Faced with this tragedy which upsets each of us, I will declare national mourning,” Mr. Macron said on X on Monday evening after a government crisis meeting. The Head of State will go there “in the coming days in support” of the population and all those mobilized.
“Totally devastated”
“The island is totally devastated” declared the resigning Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau in Reunion, specifying that “70% of the inhabitants have been seriously affected”. The cyclone ravaged the Indian Ocean territory on Saturday, the poorest department in France, where around a third of the population lives in precarious housing, which has been completely destroyed.
The prefect ordered the establishment of a search mission for the dead. The authorities, “unable” to give an assessment for the moment, fear “several hundred” deaths, perhaps even “a few thousand” on this archipelago with many shanty towns.
The count is all the more complicated because Mayotte is a land with a strong Muslim tradition and, according to Islamic rites, many of the deceased were probably buried within 24 hours of their death. “The toll will be heavy, too heavy” predicted Bruno Retailleau.
Chido was probably favored by surface waters close to 30°C, which provides more energy for storms, a global warming phenomenon already observed elsewhere this fall. The impact was especially exceptional in Mayotte because the cyclone was “heading straight towards it”, explains Sébastien Langlade, specialist in the phenomenon at Météo-France.
“Vital needs”
Three days after the disaster, the priority is to ensure the “vital needs” of residents in water and food, insisted Mr. Retailleau.
“We are starting to run out of water. We have a few bottles left but there are almost no stocks in the stores,” worries Antoy Abdallah, 34, resident of Tsoundzou (east). “We risk a health crisis,” warned Ben Issa Ousseni, the president of the Departmental Council. According to the Interior Ministry, 50% of running water will be restored within 48 hours.
Patients evacuated
On the archipelago, the first medical desert in France, the only hospital, badly damaged, is “gradually resuming its activity” and will be supported by a field hospital from Thursday, indicated Mr. Retailleau.
The situation of the healthcare system is “very degraded” in Mayotte, declared the resigned Minister of Health Geneviève Darrieussecq. On Monday, the first 25 patients “in urgent situations” were evacuated to Reunion Island.
Another priority for the authorities: sending tents and tarpaulins to restore habitats, totally destroyed or the roof torn off by wind gusts which reached more than 220 km/h. According to the French Red Cross, 20 tonnes of material are being transported.
National solidarity
Faced with the emergency, the new Prime Minister François Bayrou called for “national solidarity” Monday evening. Numerous human and material reinforcements are mobilized, with the sending of 1,500 civilian and military personnel, including 400 gendarmes, and 13 planes, according to the authorities.
Solidarity is already being organized on the ground despite degraded conditions, while a large part of the archipelago is still deprived of electricity, mobile network and internet, although they are “priority(ies) to enable security and economic recovery,” lamented the resigning Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci.
Rescuers are still looking for victims and expect to find many victims in the rubble of the very populated shanty towns, particularly in the heights of Mamoudzou, the capital having called on Monday its adult residents and in “good physical condition” to “strengthen the teams on the ground.
According to Florent Vallée, of the French Red Cross, “entire families” and “many single” and “abandoned” minor children live in bangas, these small traditional houses now destroyed.
Calls for solidarity and minutes of silence multiplied in France and abroad on Monday, with the United States indicating its readiness to “offer appropriate humanitarian aid”.
