“A chaotic situation”, notes the Spanish daily El País, and “heavy damage”, adds the BBC. The drama in Mayotte after the devastating and deadly passage of Cyclone Chido on Saturday, December 14, resonates throughout the world. “Winds of at least 230 km/h devastated the French overseas department of Mayotte, leaving around 100,000 people without shelter or water and hundreds, if not thousands, of dead,” summarizes the Guardian, British daily newspaper. All approach with caution the official toll of 21 deaths, which should be provisional.
For its part, the Swiss newspaper Time poses a succession of questions, each more alarmist than the last: “How many victims buried in piles of sheet metal, household appliances and debris of furniture? How many disappeared in the shanty towns devastated by gusts at more than 200 km/ h? The French department had not experienced a cyclone of such violence for at least 90 years.” At the same time, the Swiss television channel RTS underlines that a “race against time” to rescue the inhabitants of Mayotte has been launched.
And on the political level? For our colleagues from Eveningthe new Prime Minister “leaves it to the president and the outgoing Minister of the Interior to manage the crisis in Mayotte” while the Corriere della Serra specifies that this is the “first major and unexpected crisis he faces”. Moreover, Italian journalists note that the “devastation caused by Cyclone Chido is causing political controversy in Paris”, citing the reaction of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Insoumise, for whom “the government has not organized anything “.
Many media focus on the economic and social context of Mayotte, as well as its geographical location, close to the Comoros. Note that the archipelago does not often make headlines abroad, with the latest articles on Mayotte sometimes dating back to 2020, the year of Covid-19. Using figures, interactive maps and a look back in the past, our colleagues are trying to identify the various issues surrounding this French territory that is barely visible on the international scene.
A “political and migratory” catastrophe
“84% of islanders live below the poverty line and more than 40% survive on less than €160 (£137) per month,” contextualizes The Guardian, unaccustomed to writing about this archipelago. In its pages, the time has also come to ask questions: “Why is the archipelago so poorly equipped to deal with this catastrophe?” For his part, the Irish Times recalls that “France colonized Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the entire archipelago”, including the Comoros, in 1904, which then declared their independence. Moreover, Deutsche Welle that the archipelago “has been grappling with gang violence and social unrest for decades” and that “these tensions were also fueled by water cuts earlier this year.”
For its part, the American daily located on the left, the New York Timeshighlights the fact that Mayotte has become “the center of bitter French debates on immigration”. Except that in the United States, the tragedy is far from making the headlines, already monopolized by Ukrainian news or a killing in Wisconsin. Same in South Africa, although geographically closer to Mayotte. THE Citizena South African English-language daily, simply quotes a report from Agence France Presse.
Other newspapers quickly became concerned about the health and social situation on site before moving on to more pragmatic questions. Like the Der Spiegelfor whom the “disaster is not only natural”, but also “political and migratory”. Picked up by Courrier International, the German magazine emphasizes the “endemic poverty” of the island which is marked by a “deep” migratory crisis. Regardless, the international media should quickly turn their eyes away from Mayotte. Until the next crisis.