Damage from Cyclone Chido shattered corrugated metal huts and thousands of lives on the island. Mayotte It was both immediate and long overdue.
residents of Mayotte, one of the 12 small overseas territories What remains of one of the great world empires, decades of neglect by bureaucrats In France.
On December 19, 2024, damage is seen in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mahmouds on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
Authorities on Sunday confirmed 35 deaths as Cyclone Chid made landfall, but concerns hundreds or thousands He might be dead.
In the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of the capital, Mamouz, the corrugated metal shacks were anything but. There, residents are still reflecting on their shattered lives.
People line up to collect water on Mayotte Island in the French Indian Ocean, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
Mayotte, the European Union’s poorest island, is struggling to care for migrants from the nearby independent Comoros Islands. They have moved to Mayotte (the only region of the Comoros that voted to remain part of France in a 1974 referendum), where the government last year mobilized 2,000 troops and police. It carried out mass deportations, destroyed slums, and eradicated gangs.
Women rest on a footbridge over a debris-filled stream in the Kaweni slum on Mayotte Island in the French Indian Ocean, Thursday, December 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
this weeksurvivors lined up to collect water. Between the mountains and forests there are rivers and springs, and water was once one of the island’s rare wealth. grown up fear Because mismanagement and climate change are taking their toll.
Mayotte experienced its driest year since 1997, according to the National Weather Service. Even before Chico, indoor plumbing on the island of about 350,000 people worked only once every three days, from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m.
Debris is scattered across a stream in the Kaweni slum on Mayotte island in the French Indian Ocean, Thursday, December 19, 2024, in the wake of Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant))
Women rested on a footbridge over a debris-filled stream in the Kaweni slum on Thursday, after their families were busy preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and all other water-related tasks.
People living in areas without running water lined up at public taps with buckets, plastic jerry cans, recycled bottles and anything else they could use to collect water. It was then allowed to dry again for 48 hours.
A car stops in a traffic jam on Tuesday, December 19, 2024 in Mamozu, Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
A child sleeps at the evacuated Lycée des Lumières in Mamouse, Mayotte, Thursday, December 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrien Surprenant)
Women wash clothes in a stream in the Kaweni slum, outside Mahmouds, Mayotte Island, French Indian Ocean, on Thursday, December 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
A family stands in the middle of a broken home in Mamozu, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
Volunteers sort donations for victims of Cyclone Chido at Mayotte’s home in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrien Surprenant)
A woman walks through rubble after Cyclone Chido in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mahmouds on Mayotte Island in the French Indian Ocean, Thursday, December 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
A man stands on the roof of the Kaweni slum outside Mahmouds on Mayotte Island in the French Indian Ocean on Thursday, December 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French military police unloading supplies in Cungou, on the French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (via AP, Ministry of the Interior/National Military Police)
A broken down car lies in a field of shredded trees on Friday, December 20, 2024 in Mileleni, Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
French security officials move through torn down trees on their way to Mireleny, Mayotte, Friday, December 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
A girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mahmouds on Mayotte Island in the French Indian Ocean on Thursday, December 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
A woman looks into an empty freezer while searching for groceries in Mamouse, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
French private security officials cut down a tree to clear a road for heavy Mayotte Water Authority vehicles to repair water pipes in Milereny, Mayotte, Friday, December 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
People who lost their homes and took refuge at the Lycée des Lumières socialize at an outdoor chessboard on Thursday, December 19, 2024, in Mamouse, Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrien Surprenant)
A girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mahmouds, Mayotte Island in the French Indian Ocean, on December 19, 2024, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrian Surprenant)
