March 14, 2004, 15:30
Madagascar declared a day of mourning today after one of the worst cyclones in years killed at least 81 people, made 120 000 homeless and damaged production of the staple food rice.
In a televised speech, Marc Ravalomanana, the president of Madagascar, also said his government would urgently launch relief and reconstruction efforts for people who lost homes or farms to Cyclone Gafilo. He did not give further details.
State radio said 161 people were missing following the storm which rampaged across northern Madagascar on March 7 and 8 before switching direction to tear across the south on March 10. The death toll includes people who drowned after being swept away by sudden floods when rivers burst their banks. The storm destroyed buildings, uprooted trees and flooded towns.
The radio said the toll also included 20 confirmed dead from the sinking of a ferry, the Samson, on March 7 off northwest Madagascar as it tried to sail from the Comoran island of Anjouan to the northern Madagascan town of Mahajanga. The ferry was believed to have been carrying 113 crew and passengers when it capsized in mountainous seas caused by Gafilo as it swept across the north of the world's fourth largest island.
Maritime officials in Antananarivo said three people had survived the sinking. They denied a report by Comoran officials yesterday that a fourth survivor had been discovered or that 60 corpses had been recovered from the vessel. Aid workers are flying in emergency supplies of blankets, tents, plastic sheeting and food.
"Most of the damage is not really the floods themselves, it's rather the damage done to crops. People won't be able to feed themselves," Mike Huggins, a regional spokesperson for the UN's World Food Programme, said from Johannesburg. He estimated 117 000 hectares of agricultural land had been damaged. - Reuters
|
|
