The French government declared on Wednesday December 18 a state of “exceptional natural calamity” in Mayotte, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean devastated by Cyclone Chido, where aid continues to flow and where President Emmanuel Macron arrived this Thursday December 19 December. According to a provisional report from the Ministry of the Interior, the storm, the most intense the department has experienced in almost a century, left at least 31 dead and 1,373 injured, although the authorities anticipate a number of victims much more important. This is the first time that this new device, specially designed for overseas territories, has been activated. What is he planning?
“Greater responsiveness”
Established by article 239 of the law relating to differentiation, decentralization and deconcentration, promulgated on February 21, 2022, this system generally makes it possible to facilitate certain administrative procedures to allow “greater responsiveness to local and national authorities”, indicates the Overseas Ministry. With an initial duration of one month, the system can be renewed for periods of two months.
It is decided by decree from the Ministry of Overseas Territories, “when a natural hazard of exceptional magnitude has consequences likely to seriously compromise the functioning of institutions and presents a serious and imminent danger for public order, security populations, the supply of essential goods or public health”, according to a text published in the Official Journal.
Presumption of force majeure
As the Overseas Minister François-Noël Buffet explains in a press release published on X, this system establishes the “presumption of force majeure to facilitate crisis management and the implementation of emergency measures”. Among the decisions that usually require upstream validation, “we can cite waste management, the restoration of electricity or sanitation networks, the rehabilitation of critical transport infrastructure, such as roads, ports or airports”, remark Le Figaro.
Emmanuel Macron arrived on the island this Thursday morning shortly after 10 a.m. local time (8 a.m. in Paris), accompanied by around twenty doctors, nurses and civil security personnel, the presidential Airbus also carrying four tons of food and sanitary. The government also decreed this Thursday the freezing of prices of consumer products in the department to deal with inflation, caused by shortages. This concerns foodstuffs such as mineral water, food and drink products, batteries, but also basic, everyday hygiene products dedicated to construction, as well as animal feed.