Overseas Minister Manuel Valls is visiting two days in Reunion, almost a week after the Cyclone Garance. A cyclone that has cost the lives of at least five people and caused a lot of damage in the north and east of the island in particular. The cyclone could have made more than 50,000 victims. We know that several social housing units have been flooded by the mud, a situation which in particular aggravates the most precarious situation.
Of our correspondent in Saint-Denis,
20 cm of water in its laundry room, a good to throw away fridge and a ruined car since, in the parking lot of the social residence where Michel lives, the water is mounted up to 1.60 m. And the tenant sees his investments fly away: ” I had changed the parts, the gearboxes … “, He deplores. If Michel prefers to keep a smile, the president of Committee Right to Housing 974Jean-Yves Sinimale, walks the different accommodation and faces other reactions: ” I saw people collapsed. Even a lady yesterday, really, she began to shout, howl, scream with anger, because it is not normal that we abandon them, etc, he reports. We do not listen to the inhabitants enough. The inhabitants, when they come from their neighborhood, they know them better than elected officials or communities. »»
Same sound of a bell at the hill, in the district of the river, where about fifty families living in the red zone saw the water rising and devastating their houses. Today, they fear having to leave. “” I can’t afford to have what I want, testifies Patrice, whose family has lived in this district since 1962. I had animals and all that. I already have a credit that I had made to the house. I still have € 30,000 to pay. I have no means. »»
Read too Garance: Reunion measures the extent of the damage after the cyclone passage
Four out of ten Reunionese live with less than 1,100 euros per month
HAS Reunionthe Cyclone Garance ultimately only shed light on the problem of poor housing and land in Reunion. “” Among the 18,000 unworthy dwellings that are identified through theReunionese observatory of unworthy habitatwe know that we have territories with levels of land joint ownership which are around 30 %, explains Matthieu Hoarau, regional director for the foundation for the accommodation of disadvantaged. And among these households, some do not even have a title of occupation. »»
The director alerts precariousness on the island: ” So, we have a real property precariousness, a real social precariousness which reinforce the fragility of the building in the face of these climatic hazards. This raises the question more broadly of how we fight against precariousness which is structural and massive in our territories and for which the responses of the public authorities are insufficient today. And for five years, Matthieu Hoarau has been warning against the worsening of precariousness. As a reminder, four out of ten Reunionese live with less than 1,100 euros per month.
All calls for solidarity following the Cyclone Garance are identified here.
To listen in it’s not wind Cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons … What should we expect?