by Admin
Dec 20, 2024
France’s Mayotte territory has been left devastated by Cyclone Chido which killed 31 people have been confirmed dead and over a thousand people were injured after the storm swept across the Indian Ocean island on its way to east Africa.
Mayotte which is located around the French Indian Ocean archipelago has never experienced such a disaster in 91 years.
Confirming the tragic incident, préfet Francois-Xavier Bieuville, a senior Mayotte official said “I think there will certainly be several hundred, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand”.
The French Interior Minister said “It will be difficult to account for all victims” adding that a certain figure can’t be ascertained at the moment.
However, rescue operations have commenced while the government has also announced that an air bridge was being put in place from Reunion Island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar.
Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s capital, said “Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war … I saw an entire neighborhood disappear”.
Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte with winds of more than 200km/h (124mph), damaging housing, government buildings, and a hospital.
Mayotte, located 5,000 miles from Paris, is significantly the poorest French-controlled country and has been crippled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.
More than 100,000 undocumented migrants live in Mayotte, according to French Interior Ministry
More than 40 percent of the people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line.