Before the storm hit, around a third of the island's population was living in iron-sheeted huts that never stood a chance against the powerful cyclone.
By the time it was gone, all of Mayotte's shantytowns were flattened, burying lives -- and livelihoods -- beneath them.
"We fear there will be a considerable number of deaths," a French government official told AFP. "Several hundred, or maybe several thousand."
Mayotte is the poorest part of France, of which it is an integral part.
Recent official data on the state of housing in Mayotte are hard to come by but 2017 data published by the national statistics institute said 40 percent of the island's homes are built with metal sheets and around a third have no access to running water.
- Flimsy -
"They're made of wood, corrugated iron, and situated on hills, on beaten earth," said Florent Vallee, who runs the French Red Cross branch's emergency operations.
"You can easily imagine the wind barrelling into them, and the rain creating mudslides."
Over the decades, French authorities have tried to improve housing conditions for the island's population which numbers 320,000 according to official data, but is in fact much greater because of an influx of undocumented migrants who do not show up in government statistics.
As recently as the late 1970s, modern building materials were virtually unknown in Mayotte, said Megane Aussedat, a sociologist and expert on informal housing on the island.
Despite government programmes to replace precarious shelters with solid housing, the number of available homes is still inadequate compared to the size of the population, and the migration influx.
They are also out of reach for many people in Mayotte where the median monthly income is 260 euros ($273), compared with around 2,600 euros pretax on the French mainland.
Subsidised housing projects have also been slow to materialise, said Aussedat.
However, since 2018 the authorities have been allowed to raze substandard housing provided they immediately offered inhabitants new homes.
Such clearing operations, involving massive police contingents, are sometimes thought to have the secondary objective of flushing out undocumented migrants, but Aussedat observed that telling illegals from legals can be a challenge.
"There is almost no family in Mayotte," she said, "where everybody's status is either documented or undocumented".
- Comoros influx -
Mayotte's immigration issue is almost entirely due to an influx from the Comoros, an archipelago whose closest shores are just 70 kilometres (44 miles) from Mayotte, and that declared independence in the 1970s while Mayotte opted to remain French.
As poor as Mayotte is by French standards, the Comoros are even poorer, tempting many there into a perilous journey across the water in search of a better life in Mayotte.
They often end up living in makeshift areas consisting mostly of so-called "bangas" -- small houses made of cloth and thatch.
When Chido hit, many refused to leave their homes, taking their chances with the cyclone rather than face the danger of their homes being looted or of being picked up by the authorities.
Vallee said emergency services had rescued "entire families, and also a lot of children who were left alone".
Sanitary conditions, already precarious, have worsened since, mostly because of patchy access to clean water that could prompt another cholera outbreak like the one in the spring of 2024 that killed seven people, said Jean-Francois Coty, president of the Medecins du Monde NGO.
- 'Brakes on healthcare access' -
Undocumented migrants' "fear of moving is putting the brakes on healthcare access", he said.
A French government scheme allowing undocumented people access to state healthcare is not available in Mayotte.
Coty said he hoped that French officials will pause forced deportations so immigrants can seek help without fear of expulsion.
"This is a time for humanitarian aid, not for a crackdown," he said.
Comorans fear for loved ones on cyclone-ravaged Mayotte
Moroni, Comoros (AFP) Dec 17, 2024 -
Residents of the Comoros are desperate for news of loved ones in neighbouring Mayotte, where Cyclone Chido is feared to have killed hundreds and much of the population is Comoran.
Chido spared the Comoros but devastated the French territory of Mayotte just 70 kilometres (43 miles) away, an Indian Ocean magnet for migrants from impoverished Comoros islands and elsewhere in search of a better life.
Faiza Soulaimana, 31, told AFP she had not heard from her aunt in Mayotte since the storm struck on Sunday, wiping out shantytowns, largely severing communications with the islands and leaving a death toll that authorities fear will reach into the hundreds.
"Since the cyclone, no one has been able to reach her. I am very worried because she is diabetic and is on dialysis," Soulaimana, a nurse, said by telephone from the town of Domoni, from where it is possible to see the French territory on a clear day.
Her aunt had gone to Mayotte two years ago for medical treatment and ended up staying, also bringing over her two children, she said.
Migrants are estimated to make up nearly half of Mayotte's population of around 320,000 people, according to the latest French statistics from 2017. Among them, 95 percent were Comoran.
Many of them live in Mayotte's numerous shantytowns.
"Andhum, my big brother, has been living in Mayotte for less than a year. I don't know if he is dead, I don't know if he is injured," said a man from the Grande-Comore, the largest of the Comoros's three islands.
"Since the cyclone, no one in my village has been able to get news of relatives who have settled in Mayotte," he told AFP, asking to remain anonymous for fear of causing trouble for his brother, an undocumented migrant.
- 'No news' -
The Comoros on Monday declared a week of national mourning after Chido devastated the territory.
Oussein Mahmoud, 48, told AFP that he was worried about his best friend, Janot, who had moved to Mayotte's Petite-Terre island.
"I have not been able to have any news of him. My wife has no news of her family there either," he told AFP.
A collective called "Solidarit� Chido" has been formed to raise money for Comorans in Mayotte affected by the disaster, said Sitti Djaouharia Chihabiddine, one of the organisers.
She too has had no news of several relatives, whether those "living in solid houses, like my brother, who lives in Petite-Terre, or a relative who lives in a shantytown," she said.
A source close to the authorities in Mayotte told AFP on Saturday that an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people there were irregular migrants.
But few undocumented migrants went to accommodation centres before the cyclone hit, "probably for fear of being checked", the source added. "All the shantytowns are flattened, which suggests a considerable number of victims."
Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
