France has already used military ships and planes to urgently send rescuers and food to Mayotte on Monday.
Mayotte spent its first night under curfew, between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., in order to secure and avoid looting in the island territory after the passage of deadly cyclone Chido.
The provisional toll shows 31 deaths, but the final toll could reach “a few thousand dead” according to the island’s prefect, François-Xavier Bieuville. The official number of injured stands at 1,373 injured.
Emergency help
The slums have been completely razed, the roofs of houses have been torn off, survivors are wandering the streets littered with debris. The department is still without portable water and electricity. Some areas are isolated due to lack of network.
Bruno Retailleau, the resigning Minister of the Interior, declared on BFMTV that “more than 100 tons” water and food will be distributed there on Wednesday.
The archipelago’s main hospital remains seriously damaged and only functioning at 50%. A field hospital should be delivered by the end of the week or early next week, to relieve hospital staff, according to François-Noël Buffet, Minister of Overseas Territories.
An air and sea bridge is deployed from Reunion, an island located 1,400 km away, to transfer equipment and medical personnel. Here, communities come together to help the inhabitants of Mayotte. The Reunionese donated food, water, clothing and other forms of aid. Part of these donations is collected in a community center called Maison de Mayotte.
The French army said it was sending four to five planes a day with up to 50 tonnes of aid, including food, water and medicine. Hundreds of soldiers have arrived since the weekend in Mayotte, a group of islands off the coast of Africa that is France’s poorest territory.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Mayotte on Thursday. “Our compatriots are experiencing the worst a few thousand kilometers from us, and I will be at their side in a few hours in Mayotte”the president said in a statement.
Many Mahorais are waiting for the government to declare a state of natural disaster to benefit from aid, a recognition that the new head of government François Bayrou has assured.
