Madagascar town of Mananjary destroyed after Cyclone Batsirai, 120 people dead
- ‘We’re talking about nine out of 10 homes damaged by the cyclone, especially around Mananjary,’ said a French Red Cross logistics officer
- Doctors without Borders said in a statement that their teams had visited the town and found it ‘largely destroyed’
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The coastal Madagascar town of Mananjary was largely destroyed after Tropical Cyclone Batsirai, aid workers said on Saturday, as more relief supplies arrived by plane.
The storm left 120 people dead, mainly on the east coast of the Indian Ocean island nation, which took the hardest hit.
“For the moment, the initial evaluations undertaken are very alarming. We’re talking about nine out of 10 homes damaged by the cyclone, especially around Mananjary,” said Martin Marin, a French Red Cross logistics officer.
He spoke to Agence France-Presse as the Red Cross was loading two tonnes of equipment onto a French military plane to deliver from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion to Madagascar.
Doctors without Borders (MSF) said in a statement that their teams had visited the town and found it “largely destroyed”.
“The hospital is no longer functioning, five health centres are completely destroyed in the area and the roofs of 35 other structures have been blown off. The hospital patients have been evacuated to a clinic opened urgently to receive them,” said MSF logistics officer Joaquin Noterdaeme.
“The state of the roads is getting worse as we go, and many of them are still being cleared,” he said.
“The roads are unstable, sometimes with a deep hole under the asphalt, and can collapse at any time.”
Nosy Varika, about 100km (65 miles) north, is only accessible by sea. The town’s hospital was destroyed, and electricity has yet to be restored, he added.
The national disaster management agency BNGRC said most deaths were in Ikongo district, also near the east coast.
About 125,000 people were in need of aid after Batsirai struck one week ago, the agency said.
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. Some 42 per cent of children suffer from chronic malnutrition, even without a natural disaster.
