Nineteen deaths, three missing and 90,000 victims: this is the latest updated report published by the Office of Risk and Disaster Management, a week after the passage of Gamane, this tropical cyclone which struck the northern tip of Madagascar. Collapsed roads, washed away bridges, houses buried by torrents of mud, devastated fields: the population is cut off from the world, or almost. Food prices are starting to soar. And the sources of income, for the inhabitants of these regions who essentially live from vanilla cultivation, look more than uncertain.
2 mins
with our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud
In the small isolated village of Amboangibe, in the Sava region, the homes on the banks of the Bemarivo River did not survive the violence of the floods.
Solofo Rakotomanana, language teacher, testifies to an unprecedented situation. “ Last Wednesday, the water rose seriously, for the first time in almost 60 years, reaching a height of more than 5m than usual! And today there are many collapsed houses, swept away by the floods. Since Wednesday afternoon, the electricity has been cut off. Because of the cyclone, the price of a cup of rice rose to 7,500 francs! Residents need help. »
With the roads cut, the price of rice has in fact increased by 60% in these landlocked countryside, due to lack of supplies from the capital. The price of motorcycle taxis has already doubled.
The coastal town of Vohemar has paid a heavy price. Half the city found itself under a meter of water. Identical situation for the vanilla plantations around the city.
Francois-Marie Sarti, the deputy general manager of Floribis, one of the largest vanilla companies on the island, holds crisis meetings. His company employs nearly 10,000 small planters. “ Vanilla production today is certainly impacted, but at what level? We do not know anything. Today, we do not have reliable data. What is certain is that the winds, combined with very heavy rains and flooding of the plantations will cause lianas to rot and there are certainly lianas which have been severely impacted by the wind so there will be falls which are going to be important. So today, vanilla production in relation to flowering, we knew that there will be approximately 50% less than the previous campaign. With the cyclone that has just passed and the very large areas affected by this cyclone, it will further reduce production by X per 100. We are currently making assessments. »
Emergency work to open up the region should begin this Thursday, April 4. It is the bridges, washed away by the water, which will be repaired as a priority, in order to “ to restore traffic as quickly as possible on these axes where no deviation is possible », announced the Ministry of Public Works.
Read alsoMadagascar: at least a dozen dead in the wake of Cyclone Gamane