While assessments are underway to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Chido, town halls are facing acts of looting and vandalism. In Cavani and Combani, schools that hosted disaster victims were targeted.
HA / Myriam Ponet / Bibi-Mariame Halidi
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Published on December 26, 2024 at 7:03 a.m.,
updated December 26, 2024 at 11:04 a.m.
However, some roofs that withstood the passage of Cyclone Chido are not resistant to looters and vandals. Among the buildings most affected, the schools in the municipalities which did not need this, even though everything was almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Chido.
“Sheet metal has been removed, torn off, and at the same time, houses are being rebuilt on the other side of the road“, deplores Philippe Ramon, the general director of services at Mamoudzou town hall, who points out these bangas which are flowering at lightning speed in the valleys.
The municipality plans to file a complaint, while being aware of the lack of effectiveness of the approach. In Cavani Sud in particular, the school guards are playing cat and mouse with the vandals.
The classes of the establishment, which welcomed more than 1,200 victims at the height of the crisis, are today stripped of their tables and chairs, not to mention the rest of the educational materials which have disappeared.
The town hall estimates the amount of the bill for the capital's schools at eight million euros, while an assessment of all the schools on the island is underway in order to establish an inventory of the work to be carried out. .
Victims still housed there are saddened by these acts which add desolation to desolation. “It is not good to break or steal objects, especially in the current situation in Mayottetestifies a disaster victim. We no longer have a roof over our heads, we were given a place to stay and they are coming to destroy everything. It's really a shame“.
The same scenes of looting and damage are visible around ten kilometers away, in the village of Combani. The roofs of the Lihadji Abdou school, which had also withstood the cyclone, were also “recovered”. For example, nothing remains of the library, although it was intact after Chido's visit.
“The very day of the storm, these people were outside demolishing houses and stores to loot them.“, laments Issilamou Hamada, the mayor of Tsingoni. A double punishment for the students of Mayotte who do not know when the start of the school year will take place.
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