A national minute of silence to “surround the Mahorais”

Ten days after the passage of Cyclone Chido which devastated the Mayotte archipelago, a minute of silence was observed on Monday December 23 in France during a day of national mourning, so that “the Mahorais feel surrounded by an entire country” estimated the Prime Minister, François Bayrou.

The latter, still busy composing his government, gathered staff in the courtyard of Matignon to observe the minute of silence which was held during the day of national mourning decreed by President Emmanuel Macron.

This minute of silencehas the meaning of a communion in mourning. She has a sense of solidarity for all those who are going through a difficult time. It has the sense of a commitment so that the national community is present, to rebuild Mayotte and make the Mahorais feel surrounded by an entire country.“, said Prime Minister François Bayrou, at the end of this moment of contemplation. President Macron and his wife Brigitte stood on the steps of the Élysée to observe this minute, while all the flags were put at half-mast in France.

More than 8,000 kilometers from France, the prefect of Mayotte François-Xavier Bieuville chaired a tribute ceremony on Zakia Madi Square, in Mamoudzou, in front of residents, but also firefighters, police officers and gendarmes from Mayotte, who sang La Marseillaise a cappella at the end of the meditation.

The prefect, who spoke briefly before the minute of silence, stressed that the State had “made a commitment to do better for Mayotte“, before going to greet one by one the inhabitants of the archipelago, most of which was destroyed on December 14 by Cyclone Chido, of exceptional intensity.

The most devastating cyclone that Mayotte has experienced in 90 years destroyed all precarious housing and caused colossal damage in the poorest department in France, where emergency services have since been hard at work restoring the essential services such as water, electricity and communications networks.

The provisional toll from the natural disaster, facilitated by global warming, stands at 35 dead and around 2,500 injured, but the authorities, who fear a higher number of victims, have launched a research mission. From the Beauvau court, the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau recalled “national solidarity with our compatriots in Mayotte, who have been so hard hit“.

“I never thought I would see a French department in such a state of devastation and desolation. The landscapes that I had seen so green when I went to Mayotte in May, nothing remained of them“, slipped Bruno Retailleau, assuring that “never have such logistics, so massive, so immediate, been deployed” on a territory.

In Mayotte, where a nighttime curfew remains in force, Emmanuel Macron also promised a special law to “rebuild Mayotte” et “end” to the slums, which could take two years, according to the new Prime Minister François Bayrou. In Mozambique, the cyclone caused the death of at least 94 people, according to local authorities. In Malawi, it killed 13 people.