A race against time has begun in Mayotte, the French Indian Ocean archipelago hit hard by a deadly cyclone, to restore basic services as hundreds or even thousands of people are feared dead.
French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a meeting on the situation in Mayotte today at 18:00 (local time, 19:00 Greek time).
French Ministers of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Brino Retagio and François-Noël Biffet respectively, are expected to travel later today to Mayotte, France’s poorest territory, following the passage of Cyclone Shido, the t -strongest island hit the country for 90 years.
The final tally of the dead will be “very difficult” to determine because, based on the Muslim tradition followed in Mayotte, the dead are buried “within 24 hours”, the island’s rector, François-Xavier Bievil, explained on Sunday yesterday.
He estimated that the death toll would surely amount to “hundreds, maybe thousands and even tens of thousands”.
Moreover, the number of illegal immigrants living on the island – which officially has around 320,000 inhabitants – is more than 100,000, according to the Ministry of Interior, making it difficult to count the dead.
With winds of more than 220 kilometers per hour, Typhoon Shido hit the small archipelago on Saturday, where a third of the population lives in makeshift shelters that were completely destroyed.
Huts and roofs were blown off by the wind, trees were uprooted… the residents who remained locked in shelters during the cyclone passed, when they came out they found scenes of chaos. Across the island, many roads are inaccessible, and telecommunications have also been disrupted.
An air and sea bridge has been set up from the French island of Reunion, 1,400 kilometers from Mayotte, to send supplies, equipment, medical personnel and rescuers. A total of 800 members of the civil defense were sent for reinforcements as well as a field hospital and equipment for satellite communications.
Rescuers expect to find many victims in the rubble of the slums, mainly in the capital Mamoudzou, as mayor Abdiluahedu Sumaila said.
Teams have “started working to open the way to the remote areas”, where “we hope to find survivors”, he said, saying he had received “many calls for help”.
The control tower at Mayotte airport has suffered serious damage and “at best” it will be able to work again “in ten days” for commercial flights, a prefecture source told AFP.
Meanwhile, the health system in Mayotte is “very bad, with the hospital badly damaged and other medical centers out of order,” French Health Minister Genevieve Nariesec said today.
“The hospital has been damaged by a large amount of water,” he explained speaking to the France 2 television network, adding that there are serious problems mainly “in the departments of surgery, resuscitation, emergency and the gynecology clinic.” Despite this, the hospital is still partially functioning.
Many undocumented migrants living in slums did not go to the prefecture-designated shelters, “thinking that it was a trap and that we would try (…) to round them up there to drive them out of the border,” which said former nurse Ouseni Balahashi.
Many affected people are seeking refuge in temporary accommodation centers set up by the authorities, according to Salama Ramia, a senator from Mayotte. “But unfortunately there is no water, no electricity, hunger is starting to increase,” he warned speaking to BFMTV.
“Some of my neighbors are already hungry and thirsty,” said Lucas Disofour, who lives in Lampator, explaining that all the fruit trees have been uprooted.
Residents are also complaining about the prevailing insecurity, with scenes of looting in the Kaweni industrial zone in Mamoudzu, said 52-year-old Frédéric Bélanger.
“We are afraid of being attacked, of being followed,” said Oceani, a nurse at the Mayotte hospital, speaking to BFMTV. About 1,600 police and gendarmes have been deployed, mainly to “prevent destruction”, the prefecture said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the EU is ready to offer aid to France “in the coming days”.
After Mayotte, Cyclone Shinto hit the northern part of Mozambique yesterday morning. At least three people were killed there, and strong winds and heavy rain destroyed several houses, according to forecasts.
However, little damage has been recorded in the Comoros Islands, an archipelago near Mayo, with the exception of agriculture.
Source: RES – BEE