IRIN
MADAGASCAR: Successive cyclones bring Madagascar to its knees
3 April 2007


JOHANNESBURG, 3 April 2007 (IRIN) - As the sixth mayor cyclone to hit 
Madagascar this season tears across the northeast of the impoverished 
Indian ocean island, a relentless succession of natural disasters has 
left nearly half a million people in desperate need of humanitarian 
assistance.

Tropical cyclone Jaya made landfall on Madagascar's northeastern coast 
today on a projected trajectory that will see it rage through areas 
already devastated by cyclone Indlala just over two weeks ago.

"This is the worst cyclone season in the recorded history of the 
country," Dusan Zupka, the Senior Emergency Coordination Officer 
assigned to Madagascar by the United Nations (UN) Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, told IRIN.

According to the latest UN situation report, almost 130,000 people were 
"directly affected by cyclone Indlala" and "at least 88 people were 
killed and 30 disappeared, with about 30,000 left homeless or deprived 
of all their belongings."

Natural disasters have been tormenting the island since the end of last 
year; Indlala followed in the wake of five destructive cyclones and 
unprecedented flooding. "Since December 2006, approximately 450,000 
people have become the victims of natural disasters all over 
Madagascar," said a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) statement released 
today.

"If we cannot speak of a tsunami here in Madagascar, we can at least say 
that the affects of the natural disasters are somewhat similar to that 
in the aftermath of the tsunami," said Bruno Maes, the UNICEF 
Representative in Madagascar.

"Considering the low level of human development [in Madagascar], the 
consequences are huge," Zupka said. Madagascar already faces serious 
challenges: More than 85 percent of its 19.1 million people live on less 
than US$2 a day, according to the 2006 United Nations Human Development 
report, and food insecurity and malnutrition are chronic, particularly 
in the drought-prone south.

"Due to the flooding, tens of thousands of hectares of rice, the basic 
food source for the Malagasy, have also been destroyed," the UNICEF 
statement said. "With the increased food insecurity and shortage, there 
is the risk of increased malnutrition."

Access to affected areas is a major obstacle to the delivery of 
humanitarian assistance, and although assessments are underway, 
immediate needs are critical.

Communication infrastructure, roads, schools and health centres have 
been severely damaged; provision of food, potable water, shelter, 
medicines, sanitation facilities, dealing with waterborne diseases and 
finding alternative means of transportation - like helicopters - until 
roads are fixed, are essential.

Officials have warned that in-country supplies are drained. "We are 
overstretched in terms of human capacity and financial resources," Zupka 
said, adding that international donors had been generous and that "all 
UN agencies have boosted capacity [in Madagascar].

"Some replenishment has already come from the international community: 
"contributions so far in response to the cyclones/floods amount to 
ARIARY 1.5 billion (US$7.5 million)," the UN report noted.

Zupka expressed concern over the lack of attention the emergency in 
Madagascar had received in the international media, considering the 
extent of the multiple disasters and the vulnerability of the island and 
its people. "It is striking that so little attention is being paid to a 
crisis that affects so many that are already vulnerable because of 
poverty," he commented.

With the cyclone season continuing until the end of April or early May, 
expectations are that Jaya will not be the last disaster to strike the 
island.

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