Mamoudzou, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 20th Dec, 2024) French President Emmanuel Macron extended his visit to cyclone-devastated Mayotte on Friday after angry residents vented exasperation and despair over the scale of the disaster.
Locals jeered and shouted their grievances Thursday during Macron’s visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago, five days after Cyclone Chido left a trail of destruction in its wake.
“I decided to sleep here because I considered that given what the population is going through,” leaving the same day could have “installed the idea that we come, we look, we leave,” he told reporters late Thursday.
“It is a mark of respect, of consideration.
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Emergency teams are still working at full pace, searching for survivors and supplying desperately-needed aid.
A preliminary toll from France’s interior ministry shows that 31 people have been confirmed killed and 2,500 injured. But officials say that, realistically, a final death toll of hundreds or even thousands is likely.
Chido also killed at least 73 people in Mozambique, on the African mainland.
As Macron inspected the destruction on the French overseas territory, local people were quick to air their grievances.
