French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday evening that he would go “to Mayotte in the coming days in support” of people hit by the deadly passage of Cyclone Chido, “of civil servants and mobilized relief forces”. Meanwhile, emergency services are working to help the victims on the island of Mayotte where “everything is devastated”.
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More than two days after the deadly passage of Cyclone Chido, emergency services are organizing to find survivors in the rubble in Mayotte, a battered archipelago where Emmanuel Macron, who will decree “ national mourning ”, will surrender “ in the coming days “. “ It’s about facing emergencies and starting to prepare for the future », Said the president on X after a government crisis meeting. “ Faced with this tragedy which upsets each of us, I will declare national mourning “, he added.
According to the latest report from the Ministry of the Interior, at least 21 people have died on the island but the authorities fear a much higher toll, reaching hundreds of victims. Returning from Mayotte, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau reported a dramatic situation. “ The island is completely devastated. Precarious housing, slums, nothing remains of them “, he said.
“We are looking for help »
In these informal neighborhoods which housed around a third of the population of Mayotte, nothing remains. As a result, thousands of people find themselves homeless, without water or electricity. And cut off from the world because the telephone network is almost out of service. Rescuers expect to find many victims in the rubble of the highly populated shanty towns, particularly in the heights of Mamoudzou. According to Florent Vallée, of the French Red Cross, “entire families” and “many minor children alone” and “abandoned” live in bangas, these small traditional houses now destroyed.
In these neighborhoods, for lack of place to take refuge, residents are already starting to rebuild their homes. The sounds of hammers echo throughout the city. Ibrahim Saidi lives in a slum on the hill. After taking refuge with relatives during the cyclone, he found his hut completely destroyed. Sheet metal and furniture litter the floor. “ Everything you see is destroyed. We thank God for being alive but what happened was a catastrophe. I don’t have the words », he testifies on the microphone of our correspondent Lisa Morisseau. His neighbor, Abdoulatif, 17, also returned to the site to see the damage. “ It’s completely destroyed. It hurts my heart because we no longer have places to sleep. We don’t know what to do anymore. We are looking for help “, he pleads.
Aid is currently being delivered to the victims who, in addition to being victims of a lack of water and electricity, must cope with the situation with a health care system. very degraded “.
An air and sea bridge is deployed from the island of Reunion, a French territory 1,400 km away, to transport medical equipment and personnel. According to the French Red Cross, 20 tonnes of equipment are also being transported.