There is a threat of famine on the French archipelago of Mayotte, hit by a cyclone, the French newspaper writes Le Monde Wednesday morning. Due to power outages, many products no longer have a shelf life. The water supply is also under pressure. According to the French Minister for Overseas Territories François-Noël Buffet, the drinking water supply is running at 50 percent of its capacity.
An airlift has been set up to Mayotte from the French island of Réunion, which is located east of Madagascar. But emergency aid is proving difficult. As a result of the storm, parts of Mayotte have become impassable and telephone and internet connections are very limited. Paris scaled up the aid operation on Wednesday. During the day, 120,000 kilos of food must reach the archipelago.
In the meantime, there remains great uncertainty about the number of deaths in Mayotte. So far, the French Interior Ministry has confirmed 22 deaths and 1,418 injuries. Estimates of the total death toll range from hundreds to even thousands of deaths. Cyclone Chido also caused fatalities on mainland Africa. Reuters news agency reports 34 deaths in Mozambique and 7 deaths in Malawi.
“I cannot give a death toll because I don’t know,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told French news channel BFM TV on Wednesday morning. “I fear the number will be large, much too large.”
French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Mayotte next Thursday. Opposition members accuse the French government of negligence in preparing the overseas territories for the consequences of climate change. Mayotte has been under a curfew since Tuesday (between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.) to prevent looting. Paris has also sent extra French soldiers to the archipelago.
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