By Tassilo Hummel
Residents of the area of Mayotte devastated by Cyclone Chido accused French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit on Friday, complaining that food and water have not reached them a week after the storm hit the Indian Ocean.
French officials have been able to confirm the death toll of 31 people in Chido but others fear that thousands may be killed.
Some of the worst-hit areas of the islands, mountain huts with flimsy houses inhabited by undocumented migrants, have yet to be reached by rescue workers.
As Macron walked through the Tungoni area, residents who were sweating in the 31-degree Celsius (88-degree Farenheit) temperature, complained about the lack of water.
“Seven days and you can't give people water!” one man shouted Macron.
Macron, who is extending his visit to Mayotte to spend more time surveying the damage from the country's worst storm in 90 years, responded that water would be distributed in town halls.
“I understand your impatience. You can count on me,” he said.
Last night, Macron responded with more evidence to a jeering crowd that chanted for his resignation and accused his government of neglecting Mayotte, which is 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) from the French capital.
“You are happy that you are in France. If it were not in France, you would be 10,000 times,” he said, using an expletive.
'WE NEED WATER'
Ali Djimoi, who lives in the slums of Kaweni outside the capital Mamoudzou, said Mayotte had been “completely abandoned” by the French state.
“The water that comes out of the pipes – even if it works you can't drink it, it comes out dirty,” he told Reuters.
Djimoi said that eight people in his area were killed by the storm, two of them were buried near the mosque.
Authorities have warned that it will be difficult to establish an exact death toll, because some of the victims were buried quickly, in accordance with Islamic tradition, before their deaths were counted.
A large number of undocumented migrants from Comoros, Madagascar and other countries also complicate matters. Official statistics put Mayotte's population at 321,000, but many say it is much higher.
Three out of four people live below the national poverty line in Mayotte, which remains heavily dependent on support from metropolitan France.
Aboubacar Ahamada Mlachahi was one of many people struggling to secure basic needs.
“The first important thing is water, for children. Before repairing houses, before repairing anything, daily life… We need water,” he told Reuters.
The thirty-four-year-old builder, who is a native of Comoros, says his house was destroyed by the typhoon and he is now perched on a hill in Longoni, the port of Mayotte.
“Everything is gone,” he said.
The islands, close to Comoros Bay, first came under French rule in 1841. In 1974, Mayotte voted to remain in France at the same time the three islands of Comoro chose to establish an independent country.
Chido also killed at least 73 people in Mozambique and 13 in Malawi after making landfall on the African continent, according to officials in those countries.