Aid Worker Diaries - Madagascar storm: "Hunkered down in houses"

By CARE International

An intense tropical cyclone named Giovanna made landfall on the east coast of Madagascar yesterday morning. “Assessments have yet to begin and we have very little data at the present time. But if we look at the strength of the storm and the fact that the area in which it hit is one of the most densely populated in Madagascar we expect around 100,000 people to be affected by wind damage and flooding”, says John Uniack Davis, Country Director of CARE Madagascar. The storm made landfall in the village of Andevoranto, a highly-populated area in the middle of the east coast and a four to five hour drive from the capital city of Antananarivo.

“It’s quite unusual that a storm hits the capital city so close and hard. We were all hunkered down in our houses yesterday morning, waiting for it to pass”, Davis reports. “There is lots of debris in the streets. My 39-year-old guard told me that has never seen winds this strong in Antananarivo.”

CARE staff report that at least 60 percent of dwellings in the town of Vatomandry, where CARE has a large sub-office, have been partially damaged or completely destroyed. “But we expect that we will see large destruction in the surrounding area as well, particularly because dwellings in these areas are most often made of flimsy local materials, such as palm leaves and bamboo. Many remote areas are still cut off. CARE will begin an aerial assessment today so we can plan our emergency response accordingly”, says Davis. “CARE is one of the most established emergency actors in Madagascar, so we will act quickly to bring much needed emergency relief.”

“So far we have heard of five deaths, but this number will probably rise as we get more information from outlying areas. People who have lost their homes will require shelter, particularly since we are still in the heart of cyclone season and another storm system is already threatening. They will also require food aid. And the numbers of injured and dead will presumably grow in the coming days”, according to Davis.

CARE staff in Vatomandry and Mahanoro have been preparing for the arrival of Giovanna for the past several days. They have made security preparations to ensure that their families and properties are safe. All staff and families based in Vatomandry are safe and only one CARE staff member’s home was badly damaged.

- AlertNet