(BBC News) The search for survivors in Mayotte, a French island territory in the Indian Ocean, continued on Sunday after it was hit by a powerful cyclone.
Entire settlements were flattened when Cyclone Chido brought wind speeds of more than 225 km/h, with the poorest living in makeshift shelters particularly hard hit.
Some of Mayotte’s population of 320,000 have said they are struggling with severe shortages of food, water and shelter.
Mayotte’s impoverished communities, including undocumented migrants who have travelled to the French territory in an effort to claim asylum, are thought to have been especially hard hit due to vulnerable housing.
Its population is heavily dependent on French financial aid and has long struggled with poverty, unemployment and political instability.
About 75% of the population lives below the national poverty line, and unemployment hovers at around one in three.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his thoughts are with “our compatriots in Mayotte, who have gone through the most horrific few hours and who have, for some, lost everything, lost their lives.”
While some French aid and rescue workers have reached Mayotte, efforts to get to some communities are still under way.
