Cyclone Ivan

In a recent letter Frère Joseph Pierre Rakotoarimanana brought news of cyclone Ivan which struck the Island of de Madagascar between February 17 and 19 2008.

Cyclone Ivan was responsible for the death of at least 29 persons and left some 70.000 injured, according to the latest provisional figures from the Malagasy authorities. 17,880 hectares of rice-paddies were flooded, of which 15,000 in the region of Alaortra Mangoro alone, where 30% of Malagasy rice is produced. The work of the emergency services is made the more difficulty due to the breakdown in communications and the roads that have been washed away.

Cyclone Ivan was considered a category 3 cyclone on the hurricane measuring scale with gusts of 230 km an hour. It first struck the small tourist island of Sainte-Marie, and a large section of the eastern part of the Island on February 17^th.

The most recent previous cyclone to strike Madagascar on January 27^th had caused 13 fatalities, 2,792 homeless and more than 11,600 injuries. Fame had been the first cyclone to cause damage to the Big Island since the beginning of the cyclone season two months ago. In March 2007 cyclone Indlala had caused 150 fatalities, and 30 missing persons in that very poor island in the Indian Ocean. The end of the cyclone season in Madagascar is normally in mid April.

I asked all the local communities to send me any news. Firstly, all the schools were closed for a week. A few of our schools were able to house some of the injured and homeless. Generally speaking all our buildings (residences and schools) managed to weather the storm with the exception of St. Joseph’s in Fianarantsoa; there a wall collapsed and the roof of the kitchen was ripped off. Thankfully there was no serious damage in any of our local communities.

On the other hand many children and young people who attend our schools do have serious problems, with houses destroyed, their families’ crops (rice, cassava, corn…) all utterly destroyed.  It will certainly have difficulty in paying their school fees, at the very least. Let us remember them and their families in our prayer, as well as others victims of these storms.

Fraternally yours,

Bro. Joseph Pierre, s.c., supérieur provincial

 

march, 10, 2008