UNITED NATIONS RESPONDS TO MADAGASCAR CYCLONE

UNITED NATIONS RESPONDS TO MADAGASCAR CYCLONE

NEW YORK 11 March (OCHA) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office in Johannesburg has dispatched an emergency team to Madagascar to assist in coordinating the response to tropical cyclone Gafilo.  The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has released $300,000 from its emergency resources and today expects a shipment of jerry cans, tents, soap, blankets, water purifiers, supplementary food for children and school in a box.  The World Food Programme (WFP) will provide 40 tonnes of High Energy Biscuits.  OCHA has provided $50,000 in emergency grants.

The cyclone hit the north-east of the country on 7 March and the south-west on 9 March.  On 8 March, the Government of Madagascar requested international assistance.  As of the morning of 10 March, 17 people have been confirmed dead and 16 hospitalized.  Nearly 4,000 people have lost their homes.  A ferry carrying over 100 people from the ComorosIslands went missing on Sunday 7 March 2004.  A fishing boat with 9 people on board has also been lost.  

In the north, Antalaha town has been badly affected and is difficult to reach.  The second hardest hit district in the north, Maroantsetra, has been flooded due to excessive rainfall associated with the cyclone.  Maroantsetra is one of the major rice growing areas and crops are expected to be lost.  The WFP and CARE have carried out joint assessments on the ground in these areas.  The adjoining Sambava district also reported that it had lost more than 25 per cent of its dwellings and almost half of its vital communication and administrative facilities.  The road between Sambava and Antalaha is impassable.  Other surrounding districts, covering the entire northern part of the island, all reported extensive damage to houses, administrative buildings, roads and communication networks.  No reliable information is yet available on the impact of the cyclone in the south-west.

Shelter, blankets, clothes, water purification and sanitation, emergency medical kits, malaria protection and some emergency food assistance are urgently needed.  Longer-term rehabilitation requirements are likely to be significant.

The Government has sent aid, including medical kits, water purifiers, tents, plastic sheets, mosquito nets, generators, tools and some emergency food assistance.  The French Government has provided two military transport planes with 25 fire officers and 20 tonnes of aid on board.  The planes also carried supplies from the French Red Cross including water purifiers for 20,000 people, temporary shelter for 10,000 people and telecommunication equipment.  The Government of Libya donated 40 tonnes of aid in the form of tents, blankets and clothes.  The United States Embassy in Madagascar has pledged $50,000 in emergency disaster assistance.

Madagascar is prone to natural disasters including endemic drought in the south, threatening some 130,000 people, and recurrent cyclones and annual flooding affecting most other parts of the island.  Between 26 January and 4 February 2004, tropical cyclone Elita hit Madagascar several times causing havoc in a number of districts leaving 29 people dead, 100 injured and 44,190 homeless.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:   917 892 1679; or Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevado, OCHA Geneva, tel.:  +41-22-917 3160.

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