Madagascar calls for assistance after cyclone devastation

At least 38 people were killed when a cyclone slammed into Madagascar’s second-largest city last week, the authorities said on Thursday, as Mozambique braced for the storm’s arrival.

Drone footage shared by Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNRGC) shows the destruction wreaked on the country’s second-largest city, Toamasina, after a powerful cyclone made landfall on Tuesday.

At least 38 people were killed when a cyclone slammed into Madagascar’s second-largest city last week, the authorities said on Thursday, as Mozambique braced for the storm’s arrival.

Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday at Madagascar’s eastern coastal city Toamasina, bringing winds that reached 250 kilometres per hour.

Updating its tolls as assessments progressed, BNRGC said it had recorded 38 deaths, while six people remained missing and at least 374 were injured. More than 12 000 people were displaced, it said.

Madagascar’s new leader, Colonel Michael Randrianirina, called for “international solidarity”, saying on Wednesday the cyclone had “ravaged up to 75 percent of Toamasina and surrounds”.

AFP images showed the battered city of 400 000 people littered with trees felled by strong winds and roofs blown off buildings.

Residents dug through piles of debris, planks and corrugated metal to repair their makeshift homes. — Wires