The death toll from cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar has risen to 80 dead, according to an updated tally from authorities on Wednesday, and could worsen further as some villages in the worst-hit areas remain cut off from the world.
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The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC), which compiles the elements reported from the most impacted regions, in particular on the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean island, announced this new assessment in the aftermath. -midday.
Among these 80 dead, sixty were recorded in the district of Ikongo, in the east of the island, detailed the public body.
“It’s a carnage here,” district deputy Brunelle Razafintsiandrofa told AFP on the phone, adding that “most of the victims died following the collapse of their homes.”
The country has registered more than 94,000 disaster victims and nearly 60,000 displaced persons, while numerous NGOs and UN agencies have begun to deploy resources and teams to help the victims of these torrential rains and extremely strong winds.
The tropical cyclone hit Madagascar overnight from Saturday to Sunday, in a 150 km long, sparsely populated and agricultural coastal area. It then moved towards the center, ravaging the country’s “rice bowl” by causing rivers to overflow into rice fields, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.
The extreme weather phenomenon left the island on Monday morning, having spared the capital Antananarivo and the country’s main port, Tamatave (northeast).
But it left a wake of destroyed or flooded houses, devastated health centers and schools and about twenty roads as well as 17 impassable bridges, which greatly complicates relief operations.
“Lost Rice Harvests”
The balance sheets are gradually rising, hampered by the geographical isolation of certain villages and by communication difficulties, according to many officials on the ground.
German experts have arrived in the country, one of the poorest on the planet, to “support the humanitarian response in the Batsirai passage areas”, said the BNGRC. And work is underway to restore the road network as quickly as possible.
“Paddy fields are damaged, rice crops lost. It is the main crop of Malagasy people and their food security will be seriously affected in the next three to six months if we do not act immediately,” said Pasqualina DiSirio, director of the World Food Program (WFP) in the country.
The UN agency notably distributed hot meals in Manakara, one of the most affected localities.
Many NGOs, including Action Contre la Faim, Handicap International, Save the Children and Médecins du Monde, were mobilized ahead of the cyclone, prepositioning equipment and medicines.
Alongside the aid provided by the government, they provided assistance to the victims: food, primary health care and distribution of kitchen equipment, blankets, hygiene products.
The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) fears that many victims are minors, in a country where they account for more than half of the population of nearly 28 million.
In Mananjary, the epicenter of the destruction, the overwhelmed residents continued to clear their town to shreds. “The house has collapsed, we don’t know where to go, we’re looking for food,” Berthine, 22, told AFP earlier this week.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com