In Mayotte, a yr after Chido, the dimensions of the devastation and the slowness of reconstruction | EUROtoday

The tears have dried, however the trauma resurfaces all over the place and on a regular basis. A yr after tropical cyclone Chido plunged Mayotte into astonishment, on December 14, 2024, by hitting the north of the archipelago, the scars are nonetheless clearly seen. Winds of greater than 200 km/h and the deluge left a minimum of 40 useless and 41 lacking, in accordance with the official report, 1000’s of homeless, in addition to a whole lot of thousands and thousands of euros in harm.

As we method Mamoudzou, the barge bridge which connects Petite-Terre to Grande-Terre, the extent of the devastation is clear. With these dismembered pontoons which by no means cease rusting, symbols of a vacationer exercise at half mast. And within the distance, the silhouettes of wrecks. In the harbor, the upturned hulls of boats floating between two waters served as an surprising diving board for teams of carefree youngsters till December 8. The work to take away them has solely simply begun.

On the seafront, a number of two-story buildings stay matted, their sheets bent or blown away. At the highest of a hill, tarpaulins nonetheless shield the prefecture companies. The Mamoudzou judicial courtroom has solely recovered a 3rd of its destroyed floor. Clerks need to cram six individuals into an workplace. The combination of blue, grey and purple sheets, of the bangas of the big slum of Kawéni, rebuilt in a couple of weeks by the drive of important vitality, its inhabitants having had no different alternative for shelter, dominates the panorama.

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