“Many people have lost everything”: Cécile and Cyrille Cahouzard from Béziers, teachers in Mayotte, give their testimony after cyclone Chido

Near Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, the bangas (shanty towns) were literally swept away by the cyclone.

The tin houses and vegetation did not resist winds blowing at over 220 km/h.

The tin houses and vegetation were unable to withstand winds blowing at over 220 km/h.

Near Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, the bangas (shanty towns) were literally swept away by the cyclone.

The trees were decapitated by the cyclone in Sada, the branches torn off like kindling.

A shanty town swept away and completely destroyed by the gusts of cyclone Chido.

In the center west of Mayotte, in Coconi, the forest was devastated by the violence of the winds, many trees lost their heads.

The upside-down kitchen of Cécile and Cyrille Cahouzard’s apartment, without a roof or a frame.

Une partie du logement de Cécile et Cyrille Cahouzard, à Sada, au centre de l’île principale.

Originally from Béziers, Cécile and Cyrille Cahouzard are teachers and documentalists who have lived in Mayotte for three and a half years. Back in mainland France since December 26, the couple experienced the chaos of cyclone Chido. They tell of a devastated island, where everything has to be rebuilt.

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In the eye of the storm… While commercial flights to Mayotte have resumed since January 1, Cécile and Cyrille Cahouzard have been back in mainland France since December 26, repatriated via Reunion Island because they were transporting two minor children. With, for all luggage, a simple cabin suitcase…

This couple of teachers from Béziers – she is a maths teacher in preparatory classes and he is a documentalist – have been living in Mayotte for three and a half years,“in the small, peaceful town of Sada, in the centre of Grande Terre, the main island”. Cyclone Chido, which struck on Saturday 14 December, they had prepared for it, “our respective high schools, in Sada and Dembeni, had been closed since Thursday evening”, but they did not expect such destructive ferocity.

The roof flying off

“It is difficult to convey the intensity and violence of the winds, which blew at over 220 km/h, and the infernal noise”. Taking refuge in “a well-protected room” of the apartment they occupied, on the first floor of a solid house, “when we saw the false ceiling start to undulate, we said to ourselves that we had to leave…”

The couple had time to call the owner, who lived on the ground floor, and to take away the sac “where we had put our papers, telephones and computers” before the hurricane took away the metal roof, a few minutes later, and wreaked havoc in the home. “Fortunately, we were able to go down through a secure access because the metal sheets, rubble, and trees were flying in all directions. It was very dangerous.”

“It was chaos”

The day after the cyclone, their home, flooded by torrential rains and without a roof, being unusable, they found refuge with a couple of friends, also teachers. “A real way of the cross as the streets were strewn with debris, uprooted trees, fallen electricity poles… It was chaos”. But the quartet, despite the lack of running water and electricity, is doing well: they have a roof, water and food supplies.

“We had to set up a whole organization to manage all this because we didn't know how long it would last”. It was the waiting and the lack of information that were the most painful to experience. Deprived of any connection, “for five days, from Saturday to the following Wednesday, we lived without news, without being able to contact our loved ones, our students. No one knew anything, even the radio didn't work”.

The most total destitution

The following Sunday evening, a neighbor told them that there was a network near Mamoudzou.“We were finally able to warn our four daughters, who live in mainland France, to reassure them and tell them that we were safe and sound”. Cécile and Cyrille Cahouzard also praise the solidarity at work in Sada: “The residents and the municipality immediately took matters into their own hands to clear up and help each other”. But even in this quiet province, less impacted by illegal immigration, “many people have lost everything and are in total destitution”.

The bangas (small traditional one-room mud huts that have become the name, by extension, for shanty towns) have been swept away, wiped off the map. In addition to access to water and food, the inhabitants lack everything. Especially school supplies for the youngest. Cécile Cahouzard, who “lost” all her textbooks, drowned by the torrential rain, notes that her students have nothing left: no notebooks, books, pens…

The Mahorais need help

The couple hopes “that the State will maintain its efforts. The Mahorais need help”. To rebuild everything but also to resolve the border problem. In the eyes of the populations of neighboring countries, “Mayotte is an island of wealth in an ocean of poverty” . They, in any case, will be on deck from January 15. “We will probably camp in our apartment for the first few days, while the frame and roof are redone.” As for classes, the Sada high school was half destroyed. “I don't know in what conditions we will be able to teach, but we will be there, by their side.”

Individuals and companies who would like more information on coming to the site or organizing donations of equipment can contact Cyrille Cahouzard, who will put them in touch with the relevant people: family34290@gmail.com. I subscribe to read the rest