Mayotte: Authorities warn of hunger and diseases to cyclone

Mayotte: Authorities warn of hunger and diseases to cyclone

The authorities in Mayotte work on hunger, diseases and lawlessness in French overseas to fight that was hit after the devastating cyclone Chido at the weekend. In the meantime, dozens of deaths were reported in Mozambique.

The devastating effects of cyclone chido

authorities estimate that hundreds of people could have been killed in Mayotte, possibly even thousands of people. The cyclone devastated large parts of the archipelago off the east coast of Africa before reaching the mainland. French officials fear that the complete dimensions of the destruction will only be known in the coming days, since many areas are still inaccessible and some victims have already been buried before their deaths could be officially recorded.

So far, 22 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries have been confirmed, as the mayor of the capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Sumaila, told Radio France on Tuesday morning.

urgent help is required

"The priority today is water and food," said Sumaila. "There are people who have died, whose corpses begin to decay what can be a health problem." He also emphasized: "We have no electricity. After dark, some people take advantage of the situation."

On Tuesday, 20 tons of food and water are to arrive by air and sea transport. The French government announced that 50 % of the water supply should be restored within 48 hours, and 95 % within a week.

protective measures and emergencies

The French Interior Ministry announced that from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Tuesday evening, an outcome lock will be imposed. Rescue workers are looking for survivors in the ruins of misery to survivors, which were washed away from the 200 km/h fast winds of the cyclone.

chido was the most violent storm that Mayotte has hit for over 90 years, as the French Weather Service Meteo France reported. At least 34 people were killed in Mozambique, as the authorities announced on Tuesday. There are also seven deaths in Malawi.

political arguments in the wake of the disaster

After an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he would visit Mayotte in the coming days. The disaster quickly triggered a political debate about immigration and the environment as well as about France's dealings with its overseas areas.

Mayotte has been faced with unrest for years because many residents are angry with illegal immigration and inflation. More than three quarters of the approximately 321,000 inhabitants live in relative poverty, it is estimated that about a third as undocumented migrants, mainly from the nearby comor and Madagascar.

The government's reaction to the crisis

The provisional Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau from the conservative Republican party said at a press conference in Mayotte that the early warning system worked "perfectly", but many of the undocumented migrants did not come to the intended emergency accommodation. Some officials suspect that these fleeing were afraid of arrest.

retailleau emphasized that the effects of the cyclone underline the need to tackle the "migration question". He explained: "Mayotte is the symbol for the drift that the (French) governments have approved in this matter."

Left politicians, on the other hand, blame the government for the neglect of Mayotte and the failure in preparing for catastrophic natural events that are connected to climate change. Olivier Faure, Chairman of the Socialist Party, criticized the statements of Retailleaus in a contribution to X: "He could have questioned the role of climate change in the increase in extreme weather disasters."

The Prime Minister François Bayrou, who was appointed last week to lead France from a political crisis, was also criticized because he took part in a municipal council meeting in Pau, his hometown, instead of visiting Mayotte.