Comoros declares week-long mourning after deadly cyclone

Comoros on Monday declared a week of national mourning after Cyclone Chido devastated neighbouring Mayotte, where the authorities fear "several hundred" deaths, especially in shantytowns populated by many Comorans.

President Azali Assoumani said the mourning period would last until Sunday on the Indian Ocean islands, where a number of people lost their lives and infrastructure suffered "enormous" damage.

Mayotte, a sister island in the archipelago which chose to remain French in two referendums in 1974 and 1976 when Comoros declared independence, was hit by winds of more than 220 kilometres (137 miles) per hour on Saturday.

Just 70 kilometres (43 miles) separate the two territories. Half of Mayotte's official population of 320,000 is from overseas, according to French government statistics in 2017. Of these, 95% were Comoran.

'Considerable number of victims'

Many people are known to travel to Mayotte clandestinely using canoes.

A source close to the authorities in Mayotte told AFP on Saturday that an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people lived on the island because of irregular immigration.

But few undocumented migrants went to accommodation centres before the cyclone hit "probably for fear of being checked", the source added.

"All the shantytowns are flattened, which suggests a considerable number of victims," the source said.

Cyclone Chido is the worst to hit Mayotte in 90 years. Classified as a category four storm – the second-highest on a five-point scale – it crossed the small archipelago where about one-third of the population live in makeshift housing.

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