Journal De Bruxelles - Locals shout out their grievances as Macron visits Mayotte

High on their list was the lack of water and food, and the fear of looting.

Macron, visiting the French overseas territory to assess the destruction wrought by Cyclone Chido, said he would extend the trip by a day, so he could inspect remote areas.

And he has declared a national day of mourning for Mayotte on Monday.

Emergency teams were still working at full pace, searching for survivors and supplying desperately needed aid.

"Mister President, nobody feels safe here," one woman told Macron during his visit to the Mamoudzou hospital centre. "People are fighting over water."

And as Macron talked with hospital workers, one staff member said under her breath: "Two more days and we won't be able to feed the patients anymore. I'm disgusted."

One man in the group called the president's attention to looting, saying thieves could easily enter houses that had had their roofs blown off, despite the nightly curfew.

"Mister President, we fear that this is becoming like Haiti," a reference to the poverty-stricken, crime-ridden Caribbean country that has been in a state of emergency since March.

- 'Everything in my power' -

Macron listened to the accounts, touching the arm of a woman in tears to comfort her.

"I will do everything in my power so you have water, food and electricity," he said. His promises were met with a mixed reception, ranging from hope to incredulity.

Macron later vowed to "rebuild" Mayotte.

He would step up the fight against illegal immigration "while at the same time rebuilding schools, rebuilding homes, rebuilding the hospital, and so on", he told reporters.

"Don't let anybody say that the government threw in the towel."

Macron's visit came after Paris declared "exceptional natural disaster" measures for Mayotte late Wednesday.

Located near Madagascar off the coast of southeastern Africa, Mayotte is France's poorest region.

Macron's plane carried some 20 doctors, nurses and civil security personnel on board, as well as four tonnes of food and sanitary supplies.

"Don't leave too soon," airport security official Assan Halo pleaded with the president as he arrived. "We have nothing left."

- 'Worst' disaster 'in centuries' -

Some bystanders jeered the presidential convoy as it passed a petrol station where cars were lined up in a long queue hoping to get fuel.

"It's crazy," said one Mayotte policeman asking not to be named. "You get the feeling the government completely underestimated the disaster's scale."

A preliminary toll from France's interior ministry shows that 31 people have been confirmed killed, 45 seriously hurt, and more than 1,370 suffering lighter injuries. But officials say that, realistically, a final death toll of hundreds or even thousands is likely.

"The tragedy of Mayotte is probably the worst natural disaster in the past several centuries of French history," Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said.

France said Thursday it had activated the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism, a pooled response by EU members and others to disasters.

In response to widespread shortages, the government issued a decree freezing the prices of consumer goods in the archipelago at their pre-cyclone levels.

Meteorologists say Cyclone Chido, which hit Mayotte on Saturday, was the latest in a string of storms worldwide fuelled by climate change.

- 'Mass graves' -

An estimated one-third of Mayotte's population lived in shantytowns whose flimsy, sheet metal-roofed homes offered scant protection from the storm.

Staff soldiered on despite the hospital being out of action, with electricians racing to restore a maternity ward, France's largest with around 10,000 births a year.

Much of Mayotte's population is Muslim, whose religious tradition dictates that bodies be buried rapidly, so some may never be identified.

And one man in the crowd told Macron: "In the shantytowns, people bury the bodies in shallow graves."

"Yes, but where?" asked the president. "Where?"

While Mayotte officially has 320,000 inhabitants, the authorities estimate the actual figure is between 100,000 and 200,000 higher when taking into account undocumented migrants.

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E.Janssens--JdB