An interview with Xavier Lauth, Director of Operations at SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL, Emmanuelle Pons, Director of International Operations at the French Red Cross, Florent Vallée, Director of Emergency and Operations – Director of Mayotte Operations at the French Red Cross and Arnaud Mentré, Special Envoy of the MEAE / CDCS for the coordination of international aid for Mayotte.

On 14 December 2024, cyclone Chido, the most violent for a century, crossed Madagascar, the Comoros archipelago and the islands of Mayotte (France’s 101st department), before continuing on to northern Mozambique and southern Malawi between 15 and 17 December. While Chido caused widespread destruction and casualties everywhere in its path, particularly in Mozambique (160 dead and 620,000 people affected, according to the United Nations), in Mayotte, winds of more than 240 km/h and torrential rain killed 39 people and injured more than 5. 600 (official figures), but above all devastated thousands of makeshift homes in ‘bangas’, districts of tin-roofed huts, such as Kaweni, where nearly 20,000 people lived in Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte. Chido also cut off the water and electricity supplies. Roads, communications networks and health infrastructures were seriously affected or put out of service. Grande-Terre, the larger of Mayotte’s two islands, was the hardest hit; the areas of Koungou, Kaweni and Mamoudzou, on the north-east coast, suffered the most destruction, and are the most densely populated… In Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s prefecture, the Copernicus Institute (the European Union’s Earth observation programme) estimates that 54% of buildings have been affected. All this comes on the heels of severe droughts in 2017 and 2023, and a resurgence of cholera in 2024…

Finally, it should be pointed out that on 11 and 12 December, less than a month after Chido, Mayotte was hit by tropical storm Dikeledi, whose impact, although there were no casualties, was violent, with very heavy rain and local flooding compounding the damage caused by Chido…

Chido mobilised not only the French government’s rescue and shelter services (for example, at the time of Dikeledi’s passage, 80 emergency accommodation centres – schools, MJCs, etc – were sheltering 15. At France’s request, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Luxembourg and Romania offered shelter and other basic necessities through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, and the EU said it was ready to mobilise additional support through its ResEU stocks if necessary. Others, such as the NGO Electriciens sans Frontières, have taken on the urgent task of restoring the power supply, in partnership with EDF Systèmes Energétiques Insulaires (SEI), SDMO Industries, and the humanitarian logistics association BIOPORT (on which we published an article), which has prepared and sent to Mayotte more than 3.6 tonnes of generators and electrical equipment. Finally, the Veolia Foundation, about which we have also just published an article, worked alongside the NGO SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL (see below) and the emergency response teams (ERU) of the French Red Cross mobilised on the ground: in particular, two Aquaforces 2000 (mobile treatment units designed by the Veolia Foundation for humanitarian contexts) were deployed on site.

To find out more about the impact of Chido on Mayotte, and the specific challenges facing the humanitarian response in this French overseas department, we interviewed two people involved in the response: Xavier Lauth, Director of Operations at SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL, and Arnaud Mentré, Special Envoy of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs / Centre de Crise et de Soutien (MEAE / CDCS) for the coordination of international aid for Mayotte.

Xavier Lauth, Director of Operations, SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL:

• Hello Xavier. First of all, can we say that the response of humanitarian NGOs in Mayotte after cyclone Chido is a special case, because it’s a French department, but it requires a response ‘like abroad’?

No two responses are alike, and each has its own set of constraints and specificities. The particularity comes from the difference in wealth, infrastructure and access to services between this department and the other French departments, which is partly responsible for the scale of the needs generated by the cyclone, and obviously also because Mayotte is more exposed to this risk due to its geography and the state of its buildings. In this respect, Mayotte is unique in that this disaster is taking place in a country where State resources and the response of the authorities are strong, and where the role of civil society is often not focused on providing humanitarian assistance, but on more social issues. The level of destruction calls for all good will and joint work by these state services and the département, with civil society and NGOs. It’s quite unique in that sense.

• Similarly, French government resources are being deployed in response to the situation in Mayotte, including civil protection, an air bridge with army resources to Réunion and then to Mayotte. What role do humanitarian NGOs play in this type of situation, and what are the overall aid resources deployed in this crisis?

As in every crisis or response to a natural disaster, the civil protection services are on the front line and our role as humanitarian actors is to support the coordination that is taking place, to reinforce it and to determine our action based on what is complementary. Here, logistics, clearance and hospital care are provided by the government services. NGOs will therefore be focusing on the most remote areas and isolated populations, and should complement this response. However, this response would be enhanced by greater coordination between all the parties involved.

• According to your teams on the ground, what is the assessment of the destruction and the humanitarian situation?

The level of destruction is phenomenal in terms of public, community and, above all, private buildings. The materials used and the quality of the buildings in the informal settlements and shanty towns did not stand up to the cyclone. People lost what little they had, and their health is at risk in a context where standards of access to water and decent sanitation were already not being met. The key issue is reconstruction. While declarations about the end of shanty towns, announcements of bans and the need for better construction are multiplying, without any rehousing solutions being proposed, people are mobilising and rebuilding a roof over their heads, for their children, with bits of patched-up sheet metal. In the middle of the rainy season, what could be more normal? The same vulnerable buildings are now being reinstalled on the slopes of the island.

• SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL has already been present in Mayotte since 2022, notably to respond to the crisis in access to drinking water, but the team on the ground has been strengthened in terms of staff and equipment. What are the logistical and access issues and constraints that had to be dealt with, and still have to be dealt with?

SI had a network, teams and partners before the cyclone. However, we had to find a place for ourselves within the crisis coordination team so that we could send our human and material reinforcements. From there, we had to rethink our action in a tense context where logistics are a major issue, access to certain areas is difficult and needs are often greater than what SI could provide. SI is an emergency NGO, used to responding to crises, whether human or natural in origin, but our emergency resources, both in terms of staff and emergency kits, could not be fully deployed in time, due to a lack of logistical resources to reach the island quickly.

• Before Chido, Mayotte was already experiencing a crisis in terms of access to drinking water and sanitation, and cholera vibrio is present on the island, with a resurgence expected in 2024. What is the current state of health and epidemic risks (cholera, tetanus, in particular) caused by the massive destruction of sanitation and water distribution infrastructures, the abundance of waste and stagnant water, and the concentration of disaster victims in precarious, unequipped sites?

The health risks are immense, but the situation remains under control at this stage, according to the Regional Health Agency. A number of players, including SI, took action in the early hours to help prevent the development of water-borne diseases by distributing hygiene articles to disaster victims and securing temporary water supplies, as well as household water treatment equipment such as filters and aqua Tabs (chlorine-based tablets used to disinfect water that is unfit for consumption). However, the lack of access to clean water is a very worrying factor: many households still do not have safe access to a source of drinking water, and many did not have any before the cyclone. Unfortunately, our teams are regularly observing the use of surface water that is unfit for consumption. Lastly, the springs themselves are even more polluted than before, due to the accumulation of waste caused by the cyclone. However, to date, no epidemics have been declared.

• Given these assessments and parameters, can you specify and develop the concrete actions implemented by SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL teams on the ground in Mayotte, to respond to the consequences of Cyclone Chido?

From the day after the cyclone, the SI teams, although themselves affected by the disaster, were able to provide an emergency response by supporting the collective shelters where the island’s population had been called upon to take refuge. SI used its pre-positioned stocks to distribute water treatment equipment, aqua tabs and filters to ensure access to drinking water at its sites. Secondly, as soon as the organisation’s emergency equipment and staff could be deployed on the island, the teams, in coordination with the other players, helped to rehabilitate and secure sources of drinking water to ensure that households returning to their neighbourhoods could have access to water in satisfactory conditions, and thus try to limit the risk of epidemics.

• The SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL teams working on the ground benefit from the partnership with the Veolia Foundation for certain technical aspects. Can you tell us how this foundation has contributed to your humanitarian response in Mayotte?

The Veolia Foundation provided SI with a volunteer who, together with a water, hygiene and sanitation specialist from SI headquarters, was able to provide technical support to SI’s local teams. This support made it possible to carry out technical diagnoses more quickly and to set up the necessary rehabilitation and water supply activities on the sites where this was most urgent.

• In conclusion, can we say that the humanitarian crisis in Mayotte is an example of the type of crises linked to violent climatic phenomena that are likely to multiply over the coming decades? Is this an operational configuration that NGOs need to integrate and prepare for in their medium- and long-term strategies, by thinking about how they might coordinate their actions with those of the public authorities?

There is no doubt that this type of climatic phenomenon is becoming increasingly frequent, and is set to multiply with global climate change. In these situations, it’s always a question of coordinating the response with the public authorities, who play the leading role, and finding out for whom, where and why our presence is essential. This is already the case in all the Asian and American countries regularly hit by cyclones or typhoons. Each NGO determines where to place its priorities and where its added value lies, but for those that decide to respond to natural disasters, investment and anticipation in coordination, logistics and international freight, and above all in speed, must necessarily be part of the package.

Emmanuelle Pons (Director of International Operations for the French Red Cross) and Florent Vallée (Director of Emergency and Operations – Director of Mayotte Operations for the French Red Cross) :

• Hello Emmanuelle Pons and Florent Vallée. First of all, I believe that the French Red Cross (FRC) is a very important operator in Mayotte. Can you tell us more about your operations on the ground and what you were doing before Cyclone Chido hit?

The French Red Cross (FRC) has been working in Mayotte since 1998 to help the most vulnerable populations. Every day, almost 400 volunteers are involved in 11 projects, responding to both day-to-day needs and crisis situations. These schemes cover a wide range of areas, including social action, support for the elderly, health prevention and water, hygiene and sanitation.

In Mayotte, the social challenges are particularly acute. The high rate of poverty and the precarious conditions in which many people live, particularly in shanty towns, highlight the major needs in terms of food, health prevention and strengthening the health system (for example, there are only 89 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants in Mayotte, compared with 888 in Paris).

Since 2000, we have also been running a vast disaster risk management (DRM) programme in the south-west Indian Ocean region through the Indian Ocean Regional Response Platform (PIROI). This platform, which is part of the FIU’s International Operations Department, is a regional tool for expertise, training and innovation dedicated to risk management. Our actions include training response teams, pre-positioning equipment in 11 warehouses across the region, building the capacity of the region’s National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and raising community awareness of the risks.

• As soon as Chido struck, French Red Cross emergency response teams were mobilised and sent to Mayotte. Can you explain the protocol that allows these CRF teams to be sent out in such situations?

The CRF has civil security accreditation authorising it to intervene to support the population. Through the Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI), it also maintains regular relations with the local authorities, which ensures effective integration into disaster response mechanisms.

From the start of the cyclonic episode on 11 December, the French Red Cross’s Indian Ocean Regional Response Platform (PIROI), based in Réunion, began to monitor the weather phenomenon more closely, leading it to activate its regional operational mechanism (DROP) and alert the players on the ground and the Operations Centre in order to anticipate the consequences:

• The Délégation territoriale de Mayotte has activated its emergency plan;
• Staff from the intervention platform and 3 national operational technical advisors (CTNO) were sent out before the cyclone arrived and are taking shelter in the Maison Croix-Rouge in Mamoudzou;
• Identification and alerting of volunteers from the emergency response team pool;
• Identification and alerting of volunteers on Réunion.

This proactive presence enabled the first needs assessments to be carried out quickly, in coordination with the local authorities. Once the cyclone had passed, the deployment of Emergency Response Teams (ERTs), specialising in areas such as water, hygiene and sanitation, logistics, rescue and health, became a priority. These reinforcements complement the efforts of volunteers already on the ground.

This approach is the result of experience gained, particularly following the management of hurricane Irma in Saint-Martin. The CRF favours an approach that combines national and international expertise to optimise the effectiveness of its response to emergency situations.

• What were the specific actions taken by the Red Cross teams in Mayotte to deal with the consequences of Chido, in which areas or localities, and which actions were the most urgent?

The priorities for the Red Cross in Mayotte have been to provide assistance, to reinforce the mobile medical teams, to help with the transport and distribution of basic necessities and equipment, to purify the water, and to provide psychological support and help re-establish family links.

Since the teams were deployed, more than 3,000 people have received health care in 11 of Mayotte’s 17 communes, including Mamoudzou, Bandraboua, Ouangani, Dembéni and Koungou. In addition, 304 people have registered on our website to re-establish family links, and 86 have been able to reconnect with their loved ones thanks to the systems deployed. Every day, more than 7,000 litres of water were produced and distributed to the population of the north of the island, and 137 tonnes of equipment were transported.

• Beyond this, what is the specific ‘mission’ of the CRF in the context of natural disasters? How does the CRF work, in coordination with the public authorities and civil protection?

In addition to providing immediate support to the population, our main mission is to help the affected communities to recover and to ensure that the actions we take on a day-to-day basis are sustainable. Providing aid and resources in times of crisis is crucial to restoring stability quickly. However, the main challenge remains to ensure that these actions are sustained over time in order to improve the resilience of the populations and their ability to cope with future cyclones.

The CRF works closely with the Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Crisis Management (DGSCGC) and with local prefectures. These relationships help to forge strong links, raise awareness of the FIU’s capabilities and anticipate future crises. In France, the CRF acts as a civil protection player within the framework of its accreditations (rescue operations, support for the population and supervision of spontaneous volunteers), but it is also a key player in the fight against social exclusion. The link with the public authorities therefore extends well beyond the scope of civil protection.

• Given the CRF’s experience of this type of situation, what are the specific features of the one left by Chido’s passage through Mayotte?

The main specificity of Mayotte is the youth of its population. This results in a less marked memory of risk than in other territories such as Réunion. Although the population is resilient, it doesn’t always have the right tools to cope with recurrent and increasingly intense cyclones.

In addition, the fact that we are in a French department, subject to specific rules on access to healthcare and administrative recognition of populations, has sometimes made operations more complex. In addition, the absence of an accurate census of the population delayed the optimum sizing of the human and material reinforcements needed on the ground.

• The Veolia Foundation was mobilised on the spot, alongside you and the teams of the NGO SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL; what contribution did it make to your actions?

The French Red Cross deployed its teams and expertise to meet the urgent needs of the affected populations, focusing on the supply of drinking water, health and sanitation. Complementing these efforts, the long-standing partnership with the Veolia Foundation is playing a key role in strengthening this response. This partnership provides essential technical support, in particular through water purification machines specially designed for humanitarian disaster areas. This equipment makes it possible to respond quickly and effectively to the water needs of the communities affected.

In addition, the Veolia Foundation mobilises specialised technical human resources in the form of skills sponsorship. These experts support the CRF teams, strengthening operational capacity in the field and helping to maximise the impact of crisis response.

• How does the CRF integrate this type of climate disaster, which is set to increase in the future, into its strategy and the training of its teams? What lessons has the CRF learned from its response to cyclone Chido?

To deal with the increasing number of climatic disasters, the CRF has adopted a strategy based on anticipation, training and continuous adaptation. It relies on communities of emergency workers, both national and international, who receive specific training that is updated in line with lessons learned from past interventions and changes in climate risks.

One of the priorities is to strengthen the capacity for long-term action. Teams are now trained to integrate recovery and resilience programmes from the earliest stages of an operation. This approach ensures a smooth transition between emergency management and support for the population. Particular emphasis is also placed on training middle and senior managers to ensure effective operational continuity, including support and logistics activities.

The experience of cyclone Chido confirmed the need to coordinate efforts internally with the various business units and local partners from the outset. It also highlighted the importance of adopting an appropriate timeframe, going beyond simple crisis management, to meet the growing needs associated with increasingly frequent, long-lasting and intense disasters.

Arnaud Mentré, Special Envoy of the MEAE / CDCS for the coordination of international aid for Mayotte:

• Good morning, Mr Mentré. Could you summarise and explain the mechanism for mobilising and coordinating the public authorities, via the MEAE’s CDCS in particular, in response to the consequences of cyclone Chido in Mayotte?

Under the impetus of Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and Minister Delegate Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has mobilised all its resources to request international aid and solidarity in response to the destruction caused by cyclone Chido. This solidarity is both European, with the proposals for aid made by six Member States as part of the EU’s civil protection mechanism, and international: many other partners, particularly States in the region, have also come forward.

The MEAE has set up a specific mechanism, with a special envoy and a unit dedicated to Mayotte within the CDCS. This mechanism enables us to play an active role in the interministerial crisis unit (CIC) and, in liaison with the French overseas departments and territories ministry, to work on integrating international aid into emergency operations and the initial reconstruction work. We are also in close contact with local players and organisations on the ground, such as the French Red Cross and the Fondation de France.

• How has the aid offered in particular by Belgium, Germany, Italy and Sweden, at France’s request and through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, been coordinated and coordinated with that offered by the public authorities and humanitarian organisations?

Through the interministerial crisis unit (CIC), aid from our European partners was channelled to Mayotte and incorporated into the crisis management system. Alongside Belgium, Germany, Italy and Sweden, which you mentioned, we would also like to thank Luxembourg and Romania for their offers of assistance.

• In conclusion, from the point of view of the public authorities and the CDCS, what are the issues involved in coordinating the various players (the French government, the EU, NGOs, the Red Cross, foundations and others) in this type of natural disaster, as well as those of reconstruction, anticipation and preparation for future shocks?

In 2017, Hurricane Irma has already shown the specific challenges in the event of a natural disaster in overseas France. A strong international dimension needs to be integrated into interministerial crisis management work, with particular challenges linked to regional cooperation and the mobilisation of European and international solidarity. The MEAE, the Ministry for Overseas France and the ambassadors responsible for regional cooperation in the Pacific, Indian Ocean and Americas are working closely together to develop regional cooperation frameworks for crisis management and cooperation programmes on adaptation and resilience to future shocks.

In conclusion, Chido put to the test the lessons learnt from the Christmas 2004 Tsunami, as set out in Défis Humanitaires in an article by François Grünewald, Honorary President of Groupe URD, in particular the need for inter-actor coordination from the outset, the urgent need to make the right diagnoses, taking into account the constraints and capacities of all parties before taking action… and the need to integrate prevention and preparedness for future shocks into the response…

Pierre Brunet

Writer and humanitarian

Pierre Brunet is a novelist and member of the Board of Directors of the NGO SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL. He became involved in humanitarian work in Rwanda in 1994, then in Bosnia in 1995, and has since returned to the field (Afghanistan in 2003, Calais Jungle in 2016, migrant camps in Greece and Macedonia in 2016, Iraq and North-East Syria in 2019, Ukraine in 2023). Pierre Brunet’s novels are published by Calmann-Lévy: “Barnum” in 2006, “JAB” in 2008, “Fenicia” in 2014 and “Le triangle d’incertitude” in 2017. A former journalist, Pierre Brunet regularly publishes analytical articles, opinion pieces and columns.

 

I invite you to read these interviews and articles published in the edition :

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  • Humanitarian aid: the challenge of funding and principles. Interview with Pauline Chetcuti, President of VOICE & Maria Groenewald, Director of VOICE.
  • 2023 figures for Official Development Assistance and humanitarian aid. An article by Cyprien Fabre.