Already heavily affected by the previous hurricane season, the south-east of the island was hit hard by the winds and rains brought by hurricane Freddy at the beginning of last week, but also by storm Cheneso in January. While nearly 880,000 people were already in a state of acute food insecurity at the end of 2022 in this area, Freddy pushed tens of thousands of other inhabitants into this situation.
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Laetitia Bezain
Nearly 80,000 are in need of immediate food aid for the next three months in the Vatovavy region, one of the hardest hit by Cyclone Freddy.
“ The cyclone had a major impact on crops, especially rice fields. The majority of households again lost all their efforts after Cyclones Batsirai and Emnati hit last year. Before Cyclone Freddy, they were already in a lean period. They were waiting for their harvest. Their crops are now flooded and damaged by the wind. So it affects again the cases of malnutrition which were already a serious problem.(…) Freddy is coming back. So what could resist will still be affected explains Denis Bariyanga, the operations coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Madagascar.
While fruit trees, such as bananas and breadfruit trees, which serve as substitute food during the lean season have also been destroyed, many households are resorting to coping strategies
” There are people who have started to leave their area to look for means of survival in other areas. There are people who prevent their children from continuing to go to school to ask them to go and find work or something that can support the family. There are many other negative behaviors that are beginning to be observed, continues Denis Bariyanga. But the population has also adopted positive behavior. They began to develop resilience mechanisms, such as multiplying sources of income, not relying solely on income from agriculture. We have seen, for example, quite a few people who are starting to have chicken farming activities, small businesses, and so on. This allows them to have income that is not affected by cyclones. »
Cash distributions, carried out in partnership with the government and humanitarian actors, are underway to enable the most vulnerable households to meet their basic needs. Actors who also call for donations to help the populations of the south and south-east of Madagascar, affected by food insecurity.
►Also read: “The damage is considerable”: several dead after the passage of Cyclone Freddy in Madagascar