Anita Swarup in Nairobi
Cyclone Indhala, the fifth cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island state of Madagascar in the space of three months, has exacerbated food insecurity on the island, destroying crops and hampering relief operations. The country is still picking itself up after a string of natural disasters and government and relief agencies are already overstretched. And about 80% of the country’s vanilla production, Madagascar’s top foreign exchange earner, has been lost to the latest cyclone.
This is the first time that the island has been hit by so many cyclones in such a short period. Cyclone Bondo struck on 25 December 2005 and then four in rapid succession this year - Clovis on 3 January, Favio on 18 January, Gamede on 26 February and, most recently, Indlala on 15 March. The seasonal rains were made worse by the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone moving slightly south, causing continuous rains from the end of December 2006 to the present moment.
“If the weather conditions continue and there is not more humanitarian aid, the situation on the island will seriously deteriorate,” says Kifflemariam Amdemariam of the Disaster Management team at the Federation’s Regional delegation for Eastern Africa in Nairobi.
The Malagasy Red Cross Society and French Red Cross – through the Red Cross/Red Crescent Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI) – immediately went into action as soon as the cyclone hit the island. French Red Cross technical staff, supported by local Red Cross volunteers, responded through providing water and sanitation, shelter and the distribution of 40 tons of basic relief supplies from their base in Reunion.
With assistance from PIROI, the Malagasy Red Cross undertook helicopter surveillance to examine the extent of damage caused by the cyclone. Lack of human resources and logistical problems are still making a proper evaluation by Red Cross teams difficult.
The President of the Malagasy Red Cross also requested the International Federation to send a Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) to assist in evaluating the situation in the north-west of the country. A team has been assembled and deployed to work with PIROI and the Federation’s disaster management coordinator from Nairobi.
The International Federation is launching a preliminary emergency appeal for 773,000 Swiss francs (US$ 637,000, euro 477,000) to help the Malagasy Red Cross respond to Cyclone Indlala. The appeal aims to meet additional humanitarian needs, including assisting MRCS in its relief operation for 32,000 displaced people in the Maraontsetra and Antalaha areas that will provide affected communities with non food items such as 6,200 tarpaulins, 10,667 blankets as well as jerry cans, water purification tablets and other basic relief items.
The operation will also focus on the provision of temporary shelter and preventive health activities. A total of CHF 185,000 (US$ 152,000 or euro 150,000) has already been released from the Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to answer immediate needs. The Federation co-ordinates very closely with the Malagasy Red Cross, the French Red Cross, government and UN agencies in all initiatives taken to support the affected population.
With gusts of up to 235 km/hour, cyclone Indlala hit the agricultural town of Antalaha on the north east coast, wreaking havoc across the region. Properties and buildings were badly damaged, crops, including vanilla, were destroyed and paddy fields completely inundated. Vanilla production is the main source of livelihood for many people living on the coast and the devastation of the crop has had a serious impact on entire communities. The region is still recovering from the devastating cyclones (Elita and Gafilo) which hit Madagascar three years ago. This year farmers were hoping for a good harvest - the 2006 harvest was small as vanilla orchids take three years to flower.
Rice, the country’s staple food, has also been severely affected as much of it is grown in the region hit by the cyclone. The Malagasy (i.e. people in Madagascar) consume almost 2.5 million tonnes of rice annually.
Even before cyclone Indhala hit the island, 195,000 people were in need of food aid. The cyclone has compounded pressure on already precarious food security especially in the country’s arid southern region, where a drought has affected nearly 600,000 people.
The Malagasy government estimates that around 293,000 people have been affected, 32,000 have been displaced and more than 150,000 farming families have lost an estimated 90,000 hectares of crops. In February the government appealed for $242 million in international aid.