After Cyclone Chido hit the islands of Mayotte, rescue efforts began on Dec. 16 to locate survivors and recover the bodies of those killed by the storm.
The cyclone struck the French overseas territory with winds of more than 200 kph, destroying houses and cutting off power lines and water reserves. In the aftermath of the storm, as of Monday, 21 are confirmed dead in Mayotte alone, though it is feared that thousands more may have been killed as well.
In a press conference following the disaster, France’s acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that it would take a while to confirm “the full extent of damage and deaths,” fearing the death toll would be “heavy, too heavy,” Reuters wrote.
“I wouldn’t be able… to give you any figures, not for the moment anyway. It’s clear that the island is totally devastated,” Retailleau said.
Residents of the islands have described the destruction as an apocalyptic nightmare, with houses torn apart and vegetation completely stripped.
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Hamada Ali, a teacher, told of how the streets were flooded by mud and blocked by trees, while people hid in schools. Bottled water had to be used for cooking.
“Houses with sheet metal roofs were swept away by the cyclone,” Ali said.
“It really is a war landscape. I don’t recognize anything anymore. There’s not even a tree left, the hills, there’s not a blade of grass, it’s extraordinary,” Mayotte resident Camille Cozon Abdourazak told Reuters by video once her power came back.
“I found a shop open that had water. There were still a few tins of milk left, so I was able to buy a tin of milk for my baby and one for my friend’s baby next door,” she added.
Unfortunately, other residents were not so lucky as they struggled to find food and water amidst the chaos. Roughly 85 percent of Mayotte had lost power, with around 20 percent of phones still functioning.
Water is slowly being restored in some areas, but one midwife, Amalia Mazon, worries about access to food and water.
“We feel completely abandoned, and we don’t even know if help is coming. We have no news, we have no idea,” she said.
With communications down, relatives outside the islands are desperate to find out the fates of their loved ones at home.
“I need an update from Chiconi please, my brother, my sister-in-law and my niece are there and I’m without any news since Saturday,” said one.
Acting health minister Genevieve Darrieussecq said that the islands’ healthcare system had been “degraded” after the storm hit. But she affirmed that the main hospital in the capital Mamoudzou was still functioning despite flood damage to surgical and intensive care areas. A field clinic would also be placed with 100 more medics on duty.
The New York Times reported that France is sending more than 1,200 firefighters, security forces and rescue workers to resupply and save the survivors.
According to the Guardian, French ships and aircraft have been sent to deploy rescuers and supplies to Mayotte, hoping to find survivors and restore access to food, water and power. However, some areas are still inaccessible to emergency teams, as the French Red Cross called the destruction “unimaginable.”
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Mayotte’s destruction
Sadly, Mayotte is France’s poorest overseas territory, with over three quarters of its 321,000 people living in relative poverty. Data recorded in 2021 from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) showed that the territory’s average income is about 3,000 euros ($3,152) per person, significantly lower than the wealthy Ile-de-France region.
Amongst the majority of Muslim residents living there, around 100,000 migrants have stayed in the islands. In recent years, residents have been decrying the illegal immigration and inflation that came after. During the storm, some migrants avoided emergency shelters for fear of being deported.
French president Emmanuel Macron announced that he would visit Mayotte and declare a period of national mourning for the victims.
The category 4 cyclone Chido has become the largest storm to hit Mayotte in over a century. After hitting the islands, it resumed its course, hitting nearby Mozambique where it killed at least 34 people as of Dec. 17.
