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Report
Mayotte: France must raise 'standard of infrastructure, public services' in densely-populated island
FRANCE 24 English
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12/20/2024
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00:00
France's Emmanuel Macron was met by an angry crowd that booed and shouted directly at the
00:12
President as he extended his visit to the cyclone-hit Mayotte.
00:16
People in the storm-ravaged island implored Macron to do more to help, where a preliminary
00:21
toll from France's Interior Ministry shows that 31 people have been confirmed killed
00:26
and at least 2,500 injured so far.
00:30
But officials warn that, realistically, a final death toll of hundreds or even thousands
00:35
is more likely.
00:37
The residents of the island face harrowing conditions.
00:40
They claim that they are missing bare essentials such as water and electricity.
00:44
And have nowhere to go because everything is demolished.
00:47
Let's take a listen to some of these residents.
00:51
For those who have nothing left, those who have nothing to eat, it's despair.
00:56
And unfortunately, that's when we start seeing petty theft.
01:00
Theft will begin to happen because we are entering a period of scarcity.
01:04
We'll use this rainwater to flush the toilet, clean the house a little, wash the plates
01:10
and, if we can, wash ourselves.
01:16
In the midst of the destruction, some are trying to restore hope.
01:20
As in Amidzambouro, where the Cocoa Beach restaurant has opened its doors to the most
01:24
affected residents of the archipelago.
01:26
Ludivine Blazy and Florent Marché have more on this story.
01:31
At this restaurant, there are no menus, plates or bills.
01:35
There are charging stations powered by two generators.
01:38
Dozens of people are here recharging their phones and laptops.
01:42
After Cyclone Chido struck the French island of Mayotte, electricity has become a precious
01:46
resource.
01:47
Many people need help.
01:49
There's no water, no electricity.
01:51
I met people who are getting hungry.
01:53
It's getting very critical.
01:56
It's a good thing we have this place to keep the outside world informed.
02:00
But if it wasn't for this place, I don't know what we would have done.
02:04
In order to help as many locals as possible, the restaurant is offering its resources.
02:09
The generators at Cocoa Beach run on gas originally intended for tourist boat tours.
02:14
All unnecessary energy consumption has been cut.
02:17
To avoid waste, only freezers remain plugged in.
02:22
It's all about solidarity.
02:24
Everything is free.
02:25
It's a place where people come together.
02:27
People look for comfort.
02:28
They can drink, eat, work.
02:30
And children can play on the other side.
02:32
The restaurant's address is passed on by word of mouth.
02:36
More arrive by the day.
02:38
While waiting for government-promised aid, these initiatives are the only way to keep
02:41
up local morale.
02:44
For more on this developing story, we're joined here by Renaud Foucault, senior lecturer
02:50
in economics from Lancaster University.
02:53
Good day, Mr. Foucault.
02:56
As the images we've seen that we've been showing, residents of the island of Mayotte have voiced
03:01
their angers towards French President Emmanuel Macron.
03:05
They say that they're receiving, that they're not receiving enough and that the aid has
03:11
been slow to arrive.
03:12
What are the challenges that the president will face for the reconstruction of Mayotte?
03:19
Mayotte is a department of France, so it is an integral part of France.
03:23
But at the same time, it's a place where what happened was kind of predictable in the sense
03:29
that it's a place where there has been some shortage of infrastructure.
03:33
So there was last year a big crisis of water.
03:36
So basics such as clean, drinkable water every day were not ready on a constant basis.
03:43
At the same time, it's a place that is much wealthier than the rest of the islands next
03:47
door, the Comores.
03:48
So it's also a place that has been very attractive for a lot of migrants, simply because when
03:52
you can live in a place that is 10 times richer than your own island, it is very tempting.
03:57
You have maternities where babies don't die.
03:59
I mean, this is a place that has a lot of attraction, meaning that a lot of people were
04:03
living in very difficult, unregulated conditions.
04:07
So the big challenge of France is to bring back infrastructure, public services working
04:13
at a standard that is acceptable for France in a place that is highly densely populated,
04:18
where not everyone is documented.
04:20
So we've heard about the difficulty to simply know how many people are victims because simply
04:25
we don't necessarily know their name and a lot of people are undocumented.
04:30
And why was the island so poorly prepared for Cyclone Chido?
04:35
What else could have been done to prepare for the arrival of this cyclone in Mayotte?
04:40
There has been a lot of attention in France about Mayotte, but I'm afraid it has been
04:44
kind of captured by domestic debate.
04:47
So most of the discussion at the time of Gérald Darmanin were about the change in the law
04:52
of nationality or blocking migration, etc.
04:56
So it's very, perhaps, important for a country to protect their border, but at the same time
05:01
that doesn't bring infrastructure, clean water, etc.
05:04
So the debate was mostly on those issues, but at the same time, for instance, Mayotte
05:09
is eligible for 10 years now for European funds.
05:12
So there was a lot of European funding available for water and sanitation, including a desalination
05:18
station in Mayotte to provide drinking water.
05:22
Those things have kind of been abandoned, perhaps because it doesn't resonate that well
05:26
with domestic European French voters.
05:29
But in the end, I think the focus right now should be to stop talking pounds about controlling
05:35
the right of becoming French or not becoming French, but simply rebuilding, ensuring that
05:40
people get basic, such as insurance.
05:43
Most people are not insured on their housing, ensuring basic European level standard on
05:48
the housing that will be rebuilt and stop doing politics with that.
05:53
And France's public debt pile grew further in the third quarter, according to the latest
06:00
official data.
06:02
What impact can France's economic woes now have on the aid that this island will need
06:07
to recover?
06:09
Is it, will it be a national priority?
06:13
It should be a national priority if you are to believe that the French government sees
06:18
Mayotte as an integral part of France.
06:21
There is no debate that the situation in Mayotte is much more pressing than anything you see
06:26
on the continent.
06:27
So if France truly believes that Mayotte is a department of France like the other, it
06:32
shouldn't be anything but the main priority.
06:35
So of course, the debt is very worrying in France, but we are talking about building
06:39
infrastructure that would allow finally the island to develop.
06:43
There are major hurdles.
06:44
It's extremely difficult to think about a path forward for a place like Mayotte, because
06:48
at the same time, you have French level public services and salaries for civil servants and
06:54
an environment which is much poorer.
06:56
You know, if you look at the GDP per capita in Madagascar, in the Comores, it's of course
07:01
much lower than in Mayotte.
07:03
But if you want to have a path forward for this department of France, you need to give
07:07
them the basics on which private business can flourish.
07:11
And as you said, French President Macron did say that Mayotte is an integral part of France.
07:17
He was also heard saying and telling angry islanders of Mayotte something like, you should
07:23
be happy you are in France.
07:26
Are these French level services in reality actually available for all the victims of
07:31
the cyclone?
07:32
Well, right now, definitely not, because there is a shortage of water, a shortage of food.
07:38
So the help should arrive.
07:39
But there is some truth in the fact that Mayotte is wealthier than the Comores.
07:44
I mean, everyone goes to Mayotte because, again, if you are a pregnant woman, you prefer
07:48
your baby to be alive.
07:49
And so you would you would want to go there.
07:51
There is a higher level of public service than in nearby islands.
07:55
But Macron is completely tone deaf in saying that because he comes as the person from the
07:59
continent telling people who are part of France that they should just say thank you, which
08:05
is, of course, not something he would say in the in the in the continent.
08:09
And this cyclone in Mayotte has exposed already the fragility of what's been labelled as France's
08:16
forgotten territory, as the island is already dealing with a migration crisis that saw thousands
08:22
avoid emergency shelter for fear of deportation.
08:27
Tell us more about this ongoing situation.
08:30
So the situation is a situation where you have very, very poor people living next to
08:36
people who are much wealthier everywhere in the world.
08:39
When this happens, the very, very poor people want to move.
08:42
I live in England.
08:44
There's been an obsession for years about stopping the boats of people coming from France
08:48
to England.
08:49
Even there, with millions and millions, this is not something that blocks people who want
08:54
to move from moving.
08:55
So the obsession about migration in Mayotte is something real.
08:58
It's true that there is overpopulation in Mayotte and there is a very big difficulty
09:02
to provide public services at the right level.
09:05
You cannot magic up a wall in the water that would stop people from seeking a better life.
09:10
So you need to think a bit better, a bit harder about how to live with Mayotte as a French
09:15
department in an environment that has, yes, a lot of people who are tempted to find jobs
09:20
and health care and public services in Mayotte.
09:24
Thank you so much.
09:25
That was Renaud Foucault for us, Senior Lecturer in Economics from Lancaster University.
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