The tropical cyclone DesireThe balance is still provisional and, predictably, marginal with respect to what the authorities fear: at least 14 dead and close to 250 injured. However, the prefect of Mayotte, François-Xavier Bieuville, has revealed that the situation will be much more serious than those figures indicate. “The hospital has been affected, the schools too and the houses are devastated. The phenomenon left nothing intact in its wake,” he described. “I think there will probably be several hundred, maybe we’ll get close to 1,000, even several thousand dead.”
The situation is chaotic, despite the fact that the red alert for the cyclone was lifted at six in the afternoon this Sunday Mayotte time (four in the afternoon in mainland Spain), according to the prefecture. The cyclone, he affirms, “no longer represents a threat to the territory,” although he asks “to remain vigilant against the risk of waves and floods.” The prefecture activated a “cyclonic safeguard phase”, prioritizing circulation and attention to the needs of the population, urging the reservation of traffic routes for security forces, emergency teams and operators of vital services.
The cyclone Desirewith gusts that exceeded 220 kilometers per hour, is the most intense to hit this territory in more than 90 years, according to Météo-France, the country’s official meteorological information service. The violent winds devastated the archipelago, destroying homes, tearing off roofs, and toppling electrical poles and trees. The many precarious homes, in which at least a third of the population lives (320,000 inhabitants in total), are “completely destroyed,” according to
Communications are seriously affected, making it difficult to count victims in a shocked, confined population without water or electricity. More than 15,000 homes have lost power and telephone services, including emergency services, are severely restricted.
Retailleau has stressed that it will take “days to fine-tune the human balance”, although he has advanced that he fears a “heavy and dramatic” balance. President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday expressed his “solidarity” with the inhabitants of Mayotte and promised to “take action” after a meeting with Pope Francis in Ajaccio.
“The situation is extremely serious. We have two-thirds of the island that we cannot get news from, we cannot contact them or access them,” Estelle Youssouffa, a member of the Mayotte “LIOT” group, commented on the BFMTV television network. “The official figures are being given, but in reality there are many missing people. We must not confuse towns that are completely cut off (…) with shanty towns, where there is very little chance of there being survivors. “Everything has been razed,” insists Estelle Youssouffa, highlighting that Mayotte is a medical desert and calling for the declaration of a state of emergency to be able to deploy the army and secure the island.
Added to the material difficulty of establishing a clear balance of victims is a religious factor: 95% of the inhabitants of Mayotte are Muslims of the Sunni rite. Therefore, the burial of a body must take place within 24 hours of death, something that will make establishing a reliable number more complex.
Once over Mayotte, the cyclone hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, with winds of up to 260 kilometers per hour and torrential rains. Significant damage was reported to homes, schools and health infrastructure. The Government, with the support of Unicef and other organizations, is working to mitigate the impact in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
