PAMANDZI: The district of La Vigie on the French overseas territory of Mayotte was until last week a bustling hub of life. Now it no longer exists. All that remains after Cyclone Chido rammed into Mayotte at the weekend, leaving devastation unprecedented in the last century in its wake, are ravaged hills, piles of tangled sheet metal and wood, and a few bare tree trunks.
With much of the population living in shanty towns in informal dwellings protected only by sheet metal roofs, Chido encountered few obstacles. But a ray of hope comes from the sense of community as people team up to clear the area and return to a semblance of normal life. In three days, the landscape of desolation has already changed. Residents of the neighbourhood worked to clear the roads and remove most of the electrical cables on the ground, defying the authorities' instructions for caution.
All over Mayotte, informal settlements that house an estimated 100,000 of the 300,000 officially registered inhabitants have been destroyed. Reconstruction will be daunting. Only 10 percent of Mayotte's inhabitants had insurance. Kaweni, the largest shantytown in France, on the outskirts of the capital Mamoudzou on Mayotte's main island, is one of the most affected. — AFP
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