French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
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You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 hours GMT on Monday the 16th of December. Two days after a devastating cyclone, French ministers arrive in the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte. Western powers step up their engagement with the new rulers of Syria. And the government of Serbia is accused of spying on journalists and activists.
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Evidence of possible cannibalism in Bronze Age Britain. It has taken them two days to get there, but three ministers from France have now arrived in Mayotte, the French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean that was hit by Cyclone Chido on Saturday. Local officials say hundreds of people may be dead, possibly even a thousand or more. In the past couple of hours, a senator has told journalists that people are starting to die of thirst and hunger. Three quarters of people on the island live below the poverty line, at least a third in shanty towns where homes were flattened. The storm was the most destructive in Mayotte for 90 years, with winds of at least 225 kilometres an hour. The deputy head of the Red Cross in the region, Eric Samvar, gave us an update on the devastation.
The information we have from the field is that the situation is chaotic. Damages are massive. Most of the concrete buildings have been partially or totally damaged. And all the smaller constructions have been totally destroyed. The telecommunication is still very complicated and difficult. So the information is coming up very slowly to us.
Mayotte is poorer than any other region of France and questions are being asked about whether the French government could have done more to protect people there from extreme weather. Stephen Turton is a professor of environmental geography at Central Queensland University in Australia.
I would have thought that there should have been some tropical cyclone shelters provided on the islands so people could go somewhere. And it turns out even some places that were seen as being safe, like schools, actually lost their roofs. Those shanties, they had no chance at all of... with winds of that kind of speed. And I just think this is benign neglect by the French government, to be quite honest, for one of their overseas territories. It's happened now, and I hope they learn from this and do something to make sure that people are safe next time, because there will be a next time for sure.
After hitting Mayotte, Cyclone Chido made landfall in Mozambique. It has now weakened but could bring heavy rain to Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Our correspondent in Zimbabwe, Shingai Nyoka, is monitoring the situation on Mayotte.
From what we understand, rescuers are racing against time, working under really difficult conditions to try get to some of those places that have been cut off in the wake of the devastation. The Cyclone Chilo, we understand, hit Largely the poorest areas. So these were shanty towns that were built on the hillside, built with very flimsy material like corrugated sheeting. And so the rescuers are working to try to find survivors. But people were swept away. They were buried under the rubble. Trees were uprooted. Buildings were destroyed. And so the infrastructure has also been destroyed. The roads were damaged. So it's made it incredibly difficult to try to access some of those places. And so we've heard that so far the death toll is in the dozens.
But as you mentioned there, it could rise to several hundreds and even several thousands, as suggested by local authorities.
The three French ministers who flew in landed at an airport with a control tower damaged. It's taken them two days to get there. A sign of how difficult it will be to get supplies into Mayotte.
Yes, it is. And they've arrived there with support. They've brought firefighters as well as soldiers. We understand that there's a lot of help that is still trying to get to Mayotte via ship and via air. Hundreds of support of rescuers are on the ground and there's an expectation that Up to 800 will be deployed to that area, but it's under really difficult conditions.
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Speakers
18 identified
Oliver Conway 6 min
Nino Silosani 3 min
Steve Rosenberg 3 min
Shingai Nyoka 2 min
Guy De Launay 2 min
Unknown 2 min
Jeremy Bowen 2 min
Jean Mackenzie 1 min
Rob Young 1 min
Miranda 1 min
Anbarasan Etirajan 1 min
Belkis Vile 1 min
Hala Al-Kharib 1 min
Stephen Turton 1 min
Narrator 1 min
Georgina Ranard 1 min
Zakir Hussain
Eric Samvar