unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen A devastated part of Mayotte after the worst cyclone in nearly a century swept across the archipelago. Photo: French Ministry of the Interior Via AP/TT
Recently, La Vigie was a lively district in the French archipelago of Mayotte. Now it no longer exists.
– It was like a steamroller that crushed everything, says the teacher Nasrine, who shows around her home quarters that are barely recognisable.
All that remains after Cyclone Chido swept through the district over the weekend are ravaged hills, piles of tangled pieces of sheet metal, wood and a few bare tree trunks.
– We shouldn’t be able to see the sea from here. Previously, vegetation covered the entire view, says Nasrine.
She lived in one of the few concrete buildings near Pamandzi on an island east of Mayotte’s main island. Her house survived the cyclone, but many others did not.
Cut off communications
A little further away, Touharati Ali Moudou has lost everything.
– The wind knocked the house down, she says.
Before the cyclone moved in over the island, she had been told that she could take shelter in a nearby sports hall, but she stayed at home with her elderly father. Everyone on the archipelago is well aware that there is a great risk that the official figure that says 22 people have died in the storm will multiply.
– What I fear is that the number will be far too high, says French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to BFMTV.
He visited Mayotte on Monday and described the damage as colossal.
Communications are almost completely cut off. No one has access to television anymore and mobile networks and internet are shaky at best. At worst, they don’t work at all. The radio can sometimes arrive with information.
Get insured
Cyclone Chido did not meet much resistance on its way across the archipelago where large parts of the population live in shantytowns. In many places, people are now gathering to clear rubble. In just three days, a lot has happened.
– It looks good compared to last Saturday, says Nasrine.
Two trees have fallen on Morgane Renard’s house in Pamanzi, but otherwise it is undamaged. She considers the extensive damage in the area.
– Not even those who thought they were safe could imagine the extent to which the violence of the wind could destroy everything, she says.
Throughout Mayotte there are informal communities where an estimated 100,000 of the archipelago’s approximately 300,000 registered inhabitants live.
According to Bruno Retailleau, only around 10 percent of residents had insurance and rebuilding will be difficult. But the work is already underway, hammer blows are heard everywhere.
It is urgent to get a roof over your head, soon the rainy season will begin.