On Saturday 14 December, the island of Mayotte was hit by cyclone Chido. Never before in almost a century has the French department experienced a natural disaster on such a scale, with winds gusting to almost 200 km/h. To date, the number of people unaccounted for remains uncertain, but the emergency services on the ground fear hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths.
The facts are stark: many roads have been destroyed, the electricity supply has been cut off, telecommunications services have been damaged and a large proportion of the population has no access to emergency services and remains isolated from any help. In addition, over 100,000 of the 325,000 inhabitants were living in precarious housing. The passage of the cyclone therefore heralds an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
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Photos © AFP / Daniel MOUHAMADI