Macron visits Mayotte after a devastating cyclone

Macron visits Mayotte after a devastating cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron ended up on the Indian Ocean archipelago Mayotte, just a few days after the French overseas area was hit by a devastating cyclone.

devastating effects of the cyclone

help on site

When he arrived in Mayotte on Thursday, Macron thanked the airport employees who help to organize relief goods from the French overseas area La Réunion. According to reports from the CNN partner BFMTV, the French head of state then increased a helicopter to fly over the area affected by the disaster.

cyclone chido and its destruction

Many parts of Mayotte are still inaccessible to Cyclone Chido - the worst storm that has hit the area for over 90 years. The huge storm devastated entire districts, destroyed power grids, damaged hospitals and schools and even hit the airport control tower.

population and migration

Mayotte is located in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, west of Madagascar. The two main islands have an area that is about twice the size of Washington D.C. The extent of the destruction was difficult to determine, partly due to the large number of undocumented migrants who live in informal accommodations. It is estimated that around 100,000 undocumented migrants, many of the neighboring Comores and Madagascar, live in Mayotte, according to the French Interior Ministry.

Poverty and Government Response

Mayotte fights with poverty, unemployment, violence and a intensifying migration crisis to which France reacted with police operations and mass deportations.

state emergencies and price controls

The government activated a state of the "extraordinary natural disaster" on Wednesday evening, a measure that has never been used beforehand to cope with the crisis, reported the French overseas. Rel = "NOFOLLOW" TARGET = "_ blank" https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/jorftext000050793673 "TARGET =" _ Blank "> was the price for consumer goods , such as food and hygiene products.

health crisis after the cyclone

Local authorities warn that a lack of drinking water and poor sanitary conditions could lead to an outbreak of illness. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Cross Company (IFRC) announced on Tuesday that the contact with 200 of its volunteers in Mayotte had broken off and that one wanted to provide relief supplies, including water and medical care, to the affected communities.

auxiliary measures and support from the French authorities

On Wednesday, the French authorities distributed 120 tons of food before Macron's visit, as the Reuters news agency reported. On Thursday, the prime minister's aircraft also transported more than four tons of food and medical help, as Macron announced on social media.

Category 4 Sturm meets Mayotte

Zyklon Chido, a storm of category 4, swept across the southwestern Indian ocean at the weekend and initially hit Nordmadagascar before he rapidly intensified and hit with wind speeds of over 220 kilometers per hour, according to the French weather service.

eyewitness reports from the destruction

Bruno Garcia, a resident of Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, reported BFMTV of the "catastrophic" and "apocalyptic" destruction.

"There is nothing left. It is as if an atomic bomb had fallen on Mayott