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00:00The French region's authorities grappled with the destructive trail that the cyclone
00:14left behind.
00:17Bulldozers were clearing the heliport of the island's only hospital as residents were
00:22busy repairing their metal sheet huts.
00:29Cyclones have also imposed a nightly curfew to prevent looting.
00:33Prime Minister Franck Coy's bureau said the tragedy of Mayotte is probably the worst natural
00:38disaster in the past several centuries of French history.
00:41It was terrible, I think it was a two-time, a first-time, because a cyclone, it's, it
00:49turns, in fact.
00:50There was a first time, a huge gust of wind, and then maybe a slight calm of a few minutes
00:55and then a second gust of wind, colossal.
00:57So I think that in fact most people thought they were going to die.
01:07Mayotte's population that lives in shanty towns whose sheet metal-roofed homes offered
01:12scant protection from the storm.
01:15Empowerment's sheet metal and destroyed wooden structures were strewn as far as the eyes
01:20could see.
01:21It was like a stream roller that crushed everything, said Nasreen, a Mayotte teacher.
01:50It's a neighborhood where people are used to helping each other.
01:55I don't know the neighborhood very well, but I know that here people have a lot of help.
02:01For example, yesterday I saw people cooking like in the old days, in the time of our parents,
02:07our grandparents, with pieces of wood.
02:10They cooked outside, they cooked in large quantities and gave to those who could.
02:17Health services across Mayotte are in tatters, while power and mobile phone services have
02:22been knocked out.
02:24The airport is closed to civilian flights, while the question of how to ensure supplies
02:30of drinking water has caused mounting concern.
02:3350% of the electricity network was back online, with a target of 75% by the end of the week.
02:41We don't receive the radio anymore, we don't have electricity, we don't know what's going
02:45on, we don't even know what's going on on the other side.
02:47We don't even have any news on Petit-Terre about the earthquake.
02:50So the death toll, apart from word of mouth in the neighborhoods where you go, we don't
02:57have any information.
02:59People have been cut off.
03:02Assessing the toll is further complicated by irregular immigration to Mayotte, especially
03:08from the Comoros Island to the north, meaning much of the population is unregistered.
03:39French military planes have been shuttling between Mayotte and the island of La Reunion
03:45that was spared by the cyclone.
04:08We have water as much as we can.
04:10We had a certain amount of reserves, but it's going to get more difficult.
04:15But I know that the water is being gradually restored, and there are points of water where
04:20we can, with cans, recover enough to wash a little, to do the dishes, that's it.
04:27Petrus Letron, the prefect in La Reunion, said that around 200 shipping containers with
04:34supplies and water would arrive by Sunday.
04:37The government would set up a field hospital to relieve pressure on the main hospital.
04:43We are looking for water to drink.
04:46Water packs are rare.
04:48We lack sardines too.
04:50The products we conserve are rare.
04:53We are looking for it.
04:55It's true that we have already opened several stores, but like everyone else, everyone
04:59is rushing to the stores.
05:01So, inevitably, there are shortages.
05:03French Navy support and assistance vessel, Camp Plane, will join the rescue services
05:09in Mayotte.
05:12For more UN videos visit www.un.org