Thursday, December 11, 2008

Madagascar in the cyclone belt

IRIN: Every year the rains flood large parts of Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, displacing thousands of its poorest inhabitants. Now a combination of rapid urbanisation and increasingly violent cyclones as a result of climate change may threaten to bring increasing devastation to the city, say experts.

"Last year 20,000 people were displaced, which was more than in the 2007 cyclone season - every year the number increases," Dia Styvanly Soa, of the government's Office for National Disaster Management (BNGRC), told IRIN. "More and more people are moving to the city, and they are building their homes on the floodplain because they have nowhere else to go."

Andohatapenaka II is one of Antananarivo's lowest-lying districts; it is also home to some of the city's poorest inhabitants, and subject to chronic flooding. The first cyclones of the wet season, which lasts from December to April, have not even arrived yet. "In 2006 and 2007 flooding was especially bad here," Henri Ramahatafandy, deputy chief of the district, told IRIN. "And already in 2008, 240 families have been affected by flooding - that's around 600 people."

…''Last year 20,000 people were displaced, which was more than in the 2007 cyclone season - every year the number increases.'' … The 2007-08 wet season was one of the most damaging on record in Madagascar. In February 2008, cyclone Ivan, one of the largest storms ever to hit the island, killed at least 83 people and left more than 200,000 homeless. Cyclones Fame, Jokwe and Ivan killed over 100 people and left 190,000 homeless.

A street in Antananarivo, Madagascar, shot by Alexandra Pugachevsky, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License

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