Devastation in Mayotte: Cyclone Chido batters France's poorest overseas department
Will it be dozens, hundreds or thousands killed? Mayotte's worst cyclone in 90 years has flattened homes, knocked out power and cut phone service, leaving faraway loved ones in limbo as they desperately try to get in touch with those in the French Indian Ocean department. We ask why Chido proved so devastating and track the storm as it now hits Mozambique and the nearby Comoro Islands.
With 77 percent of the population below the poverty line and so many shantytowns, it’s little wonder that so many homes got flattened. Mayotte is a magnet for asylum seekers and economic migrants and serves as a capsule of the demographic pressures that France and Europe face. The far right won a seat there in the last legislative elections. What response will we see in the wake of this disaster?
And what solutions are there going forward? This as the planet experiences both a rising population and rising temperatures; the kind that environmentalists say lead precisely to this sort of extreme weather occurrence.
Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri and Ilayda Habip.
