Cyclone in Mayotte Islands Left Hundreds Dead, France Estimates
The devastation caused by Cyclone Chido in the Mayotte Islands, Dec. 15, 2024. X/ @GREUBELINUX
December 15, 2024 Hour: 2:16 pm
This overseas department has at least 100,000 precarious homes, most of which have been destroyed.
On Sunday, the French Government’s delegate in the Mayotte department, François-Xavier Bieuville, estimated that Cyclone Chido has “undoubtedly caused several hundred deaths” in the Chido archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean.
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“It will be very difficult to establish the final toll, but I believe there will undoubtedly be several hundred fatalities. We may be approaching a thousand, or even several thousand,” Bieuville said in an interview with the public broadcaster Mayotte la 1ère.
“I fear there may be deaths that we will not even be able to officially account for because Muslim tradition requires that people be buried within 24 hours of their death,” he noted.
On Saturday, the islands, which have a population of 320,000 and are located 8,000 kilometers from Paris, near Madagascar, were devastated by winds from a cyclone that reached gusts of 220 kilometers per hour.
The Mayotte department, considered the poorest in France, has at least 100,000 precarious homes, most of which have been destroyed.
The international airport in Mamoudzou is closed to commercial flights, and much of the road network is also inaccessible. Reports indicate a lack of electricity and drinking water.
The French government will deploy up to 800 police and civil rescue personnel. A military transport plane carrying humanitarian aid has already landed in Mamoudzou, the capital. One of Paris’ concerns is the potential for looting in stores and homes.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
