Disaster-prone Madagascar battles flooding and drought

IRIN: Authorities in Madagascar are struggling to respond to increasingly severe flooding in the central highlands region of the country that includes the capital, Antananarivo, in addition to a prolonged drought in the south.

The latest round of flooding, which started when three rivers that cross Antananarivo – the Sisaony, Ikopa and Imamba – burst their banks during a storm on 24 February, has left 19 people dead and an estimated 36,000 displaced, according to the National Office for the Management of Risks and Catastrophes (BNGRC in French). A further 40,000 people were displaced in 13 other districts.

On Wednesday, BNGRC issued a new alert warning that a low-pressure system just off the island’s west coast was expected to bring more torrential rainfall to the central highlands region. Several neighbourhoods in Antananarivo remain braced for further flooding and landslides over the coming days.

The current flooding adds to the many challenges already facing the city in the wake of Tropical Storm Chedza, which caused 68 deaths and almost 80,000 displacements across Madagascar - over 16,000 in Antananarivo alone - during the weekend of 17 January. In the aftermath, several of the city’s public spaces, such as sports stadia, have been providing temporary shelter for the displaced.

NASA image of a 2010 flood near the Betsiboka River in Madagascar

Flooding in Madagascar capital kills at least 14

Terra Daily via AFP: At least 14 people died in flooding Friday in the Madagascan capital Antananarivo after a night of torrential rain caused dams to burst, rescue services said.

About 24,000 people were driven from their homes in the floods and several neighbourhoods in the Indian Ocean island nation were being evacuated, the country's emergency management bureau said.

"Due to the emergency, we call on all schools, churches, town halls, covered gymnasiums and those of goodwill to facilitate the sheltering of victims," a statement from the bureau said. Prime Minister Jean Ravelonarivo visited the affected areas early Friday.

Three rivers flow in the area of the capital. A number of dams gave way under the weight of the floodwaters, sweeping away around 50 houses, the statement said. Electricity was also cut to parts of the capital....

In northwestern Madagascar, the Betsiboka River flows toward the coast, its braided streams emptying into the Bombetoka Bay. In late March 2010, however, not long after Tropical Cyclone Hubert passed through the region, part of the river pushed over its banks, flooding nearby agricultural fields. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image on March 23, 2010. Immediately south of the Betsiboka River, which is visible in the large image, this area is roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the coast. The wide beige-and-green swath filling most of the image is flooded, and uneven rectangles demarcate individual fields. Only areas of relatively high ground appear to have escaped standing water.

Madagascar's capital city plagued by locust swarm

Eric Zerkel at the Weather Channel: Clouds of millions of locusts blacked out portions of the sky in Madagascar's capital city of Antananarivo, the scene a part of an ongoing plague that's threatening the food supply of more than 13 million people.

The plague started back in April of 2012, ABC News reports, and was largely limited to the rural, agricultural areas of the island nation. But on Thursday the locusts arrived in hordes in Antananarivo, a city of more than 700,000 people, attracted by unseasonably warm temperatures amplified by the city's urban setting. “It reminds us of the 10 plagues of Egypt,”  Ronald Miller, a missionary working in Madagascar with his family, told ABC.

..."Locust infestations, if untreated, could wipe out food crops and livestock grazing lands -- and with it a family’s ability to provide for itself," the Washington Post reports.

Previous swarms of that magnitude prompted the Madagascar government to declare a state of disaster across the country. So since 2013, the government along with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), have been spraying insecticides across large swaths of the country to combat locust outbreaks.

Those measures are part of a three year, $41 million plan to reduce the locust population to protect the livelihoods of millions of people living in Madagascar. So far the plan appears to be working, even though the images coming out of Antananarivo might seem to suggest otherwise...

A 1944 image of locusts in the Sahara

Floods, locusts leave Madagascar hungry

IRIN: ...Erratic weather and a locust plague have taken a toll on Madagascar’s rice and maize harvests this year, leaving as many as 4 million people - 28 percent of households - in rural areas food insecure, according to a recent World Food Program (WFP)/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report. A further 9.6 million people are estimated to be at risk of food insecurity.

The joint Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission, conducted in June and July by WFP and FAO, attributed the poor agricultural season to a combination of factors including flooding caused by Cyclone Haruna earlier this year, followed by a period of poor rains.

...According to the WFP/FAO report, rice production declined by 21 percent this year, resulting in a significant national rice deficit. Maize production is also down and an estimated 28,000 metric tons of maize will need to be imported to meet domestic needs....

Rice paddies in Madagascar, shot by Jean-Louis Vandevivère, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Protecting 17% of earth's land could save two-thirds of plant species

Duke University News: Protecting key regions that comprise just 17 percent of Earth’s land may help preserve more than two-thirds of its plant species, according to a new Duke University-led study by an international team of scientists.

The researchers from Duke, North Carolina State University and Microsoft Research used computer algorithms to identify the smallest set of regions worldwide that could contain the largest numbers of plant species. They published their findings today in the journal Science.

“Our analysis shows that two of the most ambitious goals set forth by the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity -- to protect 60 percent of Earth’s plant species and 17 percent of its land surface -- can be achieved, with one major caveat,” said Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

“To achieve these goals, we need to protect more land, on average, than we currently do, and much more in key places such as Madagascar, New Guinea and Ecuador,” Pimm said. “Our study identifies regions of importance. The logical -- and very challenging -- next step will be to make tactical local decisions within those regions to secure the most critical land for conservation.”

Plant species aren’t haphazardly distributed across the planet. Certain areas, including Central America, the Caribbean, the Northern Andes and regions in Africa and Asia have much higher concentrations of endemic species, that is, those which are found nowhere else.

“Species endemic to small geographical ranges are at a much higher risk of being threatened or endangered than those with large ranges," said Lucas N. Joppa, a conservation scientist at Microsoft Research’s Computational Science Laboratory in Cambridge, U.K. "We combined regions to maximize the numbers of species in the minimal area. With that information, we can more accurately evaluate each region’s relative importance for conservation, and assess international priorities accordingly.”...

A rainbow eucalyptus in New Guinea, shot by Jeff Kubina, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

What can Madagascar teach us about rice and water?

Lisa Palmer in the Guardian (UK): The idea that a simple grain like rice could change the world may seem far-fetched. But as a growing population and climate change put pressure on a hot, hungry planet, rice is playing an increasingly important role.

Rice is a major source of calories for half of the world's population, and how rice is grown affects yields and affects the environment. Irrigated rice is normally covered with water. Flooding rice paddies suppresses weed growth, but it also uses enormous quantities of water and increases methane emissions when plant matter decomposes in flooded fields.

Twenty-five years ago small holder farms in Madagascar began growing rice using a methodology that doesn't flood rice paddies continuously. With aerated soil, rather than flooded fields, farmers plant single, young seedlings directly into rows along with nutrients. The rice produces deeper roots and since the field isn't flooded, the roots of the plants don't suffocate. The result is stronger root and larger plants that produce heavier grain. And, in addition to using less water, the method requires less land preparation and fertiliser, although more weeding is required.

Growers produce more grain per hectare, conserve water resources, and create fewer environmental impacts. The system has spread from farmer to farmer, and 2.5 million of them in 50 countries have adopted these methods.

Now, a California-based company, Lotus Foods, is promoting this agriculture method, called the system of rice intensification (SRI) by providing farmers access to a global marketplace. Branded under the More Crop Per Drop label, the company sells six varieties of SRI-grown rice, including Madagascar Pink Rice. "Flooding rice paddies uses a third of our planet's freshwater resources," says Caryl Levine, co-owner of Lotus Foods, adding that the agriculture business doesn't like this method because "there is nothing to buy and it is so farmer friendly."...

Rice growing in the Madagascar highlands, shot by Jean-Louis Vandevivère, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Madagascar battling worst locust plague since 1950s

Mark Tran in the "globaldevelopment" blog at the Guardian (UK): Madagascar is in a race against time to raise enough money to tackle its worst plague of locusts since the 1950s. Locusts have already infested over half of the island's cultivated land and pastures, causing the loss of 630,000 tonnes of rice, corresponding to 25% of food consumption.

At least 1.5m hectares (3.7m acres) could be infested by locusts in two-thirds of the country by September, warns the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Findings from a damage assessment indicate that rice and maize crop losses due to locusts in the mid- and south-western parts of Madagascar vary, on average, from 40% to 70%, reaching up to 100% in some plots.

Madagascar's agriculture ministry declared a national disaster in November. The food security and livelihoods of 13 million people are at stake, about 60% of the island's population. Around 9 million people depend directly on agriculture for food and income.

"We don't have enough funds for pesticide, helicopters and training," said Alexandre Huynh, the FAO's representative in Madagascar. "What is extremely costly is to run helicopters [needed to spray pesticides]. We have to start in September, and we have two to three months to prepare. We need $22.4m [£15.1m] but we are quite short of that. Discussions are going on with donors."

The FAO has been issuing warnings since August last year, calling for financial support. José Graziano da Silva, its director general, said prevention and early action are key: "If we don't act now, the plague could last years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This could very well be a last window of opportunity to avert an extended crisis."...

A 1936 shot of locusts devouring a tree. Not in Madagascar

AfDB and Global Environment Facility to strengthen climate change adaptation with USD 33.58 million

African Development Bank: The Global Environment Facility Council has approved a grant of USD 11.3 million, to be channeled through the AfDB, for climate adaptation activities in Cameroon, Djibouti and Kenya. 

The Council’s Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) will finance the Rural Livelihoods’ Adaptation to Climate Change Program in Djibouti and Kenya. For the first phase of the program, Kenya and Djibouti will receive grants of USD 2.5 million and USD 5.07 million, respectively. The program will increase the resilience of pastoralists to the effects of climate change effects on the region.

The SCCF will also provide a grant of USD 4.03 million for a project to enhance the resilience of poor communities to urban flooding in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This project will strengthen institutional capacity to improve long-term resilience to flood risk, improve the readiness and adaptive capacity of local communities to the risk of flooding, and help pay for flood control technologies.

The GEF Council also approved financing, from the LDCF, for projects in Angola and Madagascar. In Angola, a USD 4.41 million grant will enable the Bank to implement a project to integrate climate change into management of the environment and adoption of sustainable land management practices. The project will disseminate sustainable land management and adaptation practices in agro-forestry and land ecology in 350 communities.

In Madagascar, a USD 6.27 million grant will support the development of climate resilience in the agriculture sector in the country’s southwest region. This project will strengthen the resilience of water supply infrastructure over 10,200 hectares of agricultural land in the Bas Mangoky region....

African Development Bank renews support of climate change resilience with additional resources from Least Developed Countries Fund

AllAfrica.com via the African Development Bank: The African Development Bank, renewed its support for climate change resilience in Madagascar, Benin and Angola in accessing US $17.8 million of adaptation finance in the form of grants from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) during the second quarter of 2013. It follows the approval last March of US $18.6 million for three water and sanitation projects.

Madagascar will receive US $6.2 million to promote climate change adaptation by ensuring (a) that agricultural water infrastructure planned with African Development Fund support is modified so as to be resilient in the face of climate change; (b) that the vulnerability of the agriculture catchment to cyclones and flooding is reduced, and (c) that local agricultural livelihoods are adapted to climate change through water management and health interventions.

Benin will receive US $7.2 million to allow flood control and climate resilience of agriculture infrastructures in Oueme Valley. Under this project, flooding risk mapping and climate resilient agriculture infrastructures like dykes will be promoted along with flood resistant grain storage systems.

Angola will receive US $4.4 million to increase the scope of the four pilot demonstration centres to climate change technology for sustainable development.

The Council of the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), hosted under the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has approved financing totaling US $17.8 million for three agriculture and natural resource management projects. These projects aim at increasing the adaptation capacities of three African countries....

Madagascar's hungry eat grasshoppers after deadly cyclone

Terra Daily AFP: With small, silent steps, 10-year-old Borikely carefully picks her way through the tall grass of a Madagascar field in search of her dinner. She's hunting for grasshoppers, which she'll catch with a stick. Once speared, she places them carefully in a small round straw basket and within a few minutes, she has collected dozens of insects.

This is Borikely's only meal of the day, revealing the extent of the food crisis that has gripped the Indian Ocean island since cyclone Haruna hit three weeks ago. "I don't like grasshoppers, but I am forced to eat them since the cyclone because I am hungry," Borikely told AFP.

The storm killed 26 people and affected nearly 40,000 more, devastating several villages and forcing thousands of people to cram into emergency camps. Now, villagers like Borikely fill their stomachs by eating grasshoppers which are cooked with a little salt and water, or grilled in some parts of the country.

The fields in Borikely's isolated village of Ankilimalangy, five hours drive inland from the coastal city of Toliara, were completely flooded by the February 22 storm. The village is typical of Madagascar's arid southwest where crops are only harvested once a year.

When tropical storms or cyclones hit -- which they do almost every year -- an entire village crop can easily be wiped out. An hour from Toliara lies Mangily, a holiday destination where sun-bathing tourists seem blissfully unaware of the recent devastation and the lack of drinking water.

…French charity group Action Against Hunger, which invited AFP to see the extent of the needs of the hurricane's victims, has begun disinfecting contaminated wells with chlorine and has installed a pump system to try to remove the dirty water….

Tropical Cyclone Haruna hits southwestern Madagascar

AllAfrica.com via IRIN: National disaster authorities and aid agencies are struggling to reach remote areas of Madagascar's southwestern coast where thousands of people are thought to have been made homeless by Tropical Cyclone Haruna, which made landfall on 22 February as a powerful category two cyclone.

According to the country's National Disaster Risk Management Office (BNGRC), over 17,000 people have been affected by the storm, with 13 reported deaths and about 1,500 houses destroyed or flooded. Speed boats and traditional boats were mobilized over the weekend to rescue people stranded in trees and on rooftops.

The most affected districts are Morombe and Toliary, where a burst dyke in an area called Fiherenana caused widespread flooding. According to BNGRC, 25,000 people may need to be evacuated as moderate rains are expected to continue over the next few days.

The government, NGOs and UN partners started distributing food aid to 3,000 people in six shelters in Toliary on 24 February. "Today [25 February], we reached another 4,800 people. Our emergency food supplies have come in, so now we can also hand out biscuits and rice, so people can get through the first five days," Willem van Milink, the World Food Programme's (WFP) country representative, told IRIN.

Initial situation assessments by local authorities and humanitarian partners also started on 24 February, but bad weather over the weekend made it impossible to fly over the area. "There is a whole area behind Morombe that we don't know about yet," he said....

Tropical Cyclone Haruna in the Mozambique Channel, via NASA, February 20, 2013

Climate change and deforestation: When the past influences the present

Terra Daily via SPX: The impact of deforestation on loss of biodiversity is undeniable. Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot for its richness of endemic species, has been especially hard hit by deforestation and subsequent destruction of natural habitats, caused mainly, it is thought, by human pauperisation, economic activities and population growth.

A recent study, by an international research group led by Lounes Chickhi, group leader at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (Portugal) and CNRS researcher (in Toulouse, France), questions the prevailing account that degradation of tropical ecosystems is essentially a product of human activity. Their findings call for reassessment of the impact of local communities on their environment.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the research shows that the population of golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), inhabitants of the Daraina region in the north of Madagascar, indeed contracted dramatically, but at a time that precedes human arrival on the island.

Furthermore, by examining aerial and satellite photographs of the Daraina region, the researchers concluded that forest cover in this region has remained remarkably stable over the last 60 years, thus excluding any strong effect of humans on the environment....

A sifaka near Andasibe, Madagascar, shot by Pmarzio, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license

Using information and communication technology to protect Africans against natural disasters

AllAfrica.com via the World Bank: In February 2000, intense flooding left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the African nation of Mozambique. The cause: a tropical cyclone and heavy rainfall which many experts attributed to the effects of climate change.

More than a decade later, February 2012 turned out to be a turbulent month for the island nation of Madagascar with Cyclones Giovanna and Irina battering the country one after the other, impacting more than 300,000 people and causing widespread flooding, landslides and severe damage to homes and businesses.

Across Africa, coastal cities are seeing the worst affects of climate change-induced hazards like flooding and drought, because of their proximity to coastlines or large bodies of water. And the urban poor are most heavily impacted.

"Poor communities often spring up in the least-desirable, highest-risk locations in flood zones along rivers or seacoasts with weak infrastructure and poor sanitation," said Gaurav Relhan, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialist in the World Bank's Africa Region, and author of a new report on ICTs, Cities, and natural disasters in Africa: Municipal ICT Capacity and its Impact on the Climate-Change Affected Urban Poor: The Case of Mozambique.

To help people lessen and, when possible, prevent the severe effects of climate change-induced emergencies, more cities in African countries are turning to ICTs. Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for example, are helping local governments identify flood zones on maps, measure communities' vulnerability to flooding, and plan for new flood-prevention infrastructure like drainage systems and levees. Through mobile phones, citizens are being alerted via SMS texts to coming floods or cyclones. And Early Warning Systems are simulating weather patterns and predicting disasters in advance. These tools, according to Relhan, can play a pivotal role in ultimately saving lives and lowering recovery costs.

In Madagascar, where access to up-to-the-minute weather forecasts is limited, local communities currently rely on low-tech approaches to help warn of disasters. The 'town crier' system, administered by the National Bureau for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC), currently is the main system for alerting rural communities in advance of cyclones. As part of the system, a village leader walks through the community ringing a bell and shouting warnings and instructions....

Cyclone Giovanna comes ashore in Madagascar, February 14, 2012. Shot from NASA

China provides emergency aid to victims of cyclone Giovanna in Madagascar

People's Daily via Xinhua: China on Tuesday provided emergency assistance to victims of cyclone Giovanna in rural town of Tanjombato, south of capital Antananarivo, through its embassy in Madagascar and Chinese associations in the island country. A total of 361 people from 72 families in this rural community benefited the donation, including white rice, oil and bean, blankets, buckets and school kits for students.

These associations include among others the Friends Club of China, the Association of Chinese companies in Madagascar and the Associations of Chinese vendors, who work closely with the Office of the Economic and Commercial under the Chinese Embassy in Madagascar and the Chinese Embassy itself.

In his speech, the Tanjombato mayor Rakotondrabe Maurice thanked China for its generous cooperation with poor countries as Madagascar and its solidarity following the passage of cyclone Giovanna in Tanjombato.

...Wang Hongwei, president of the association of Chinese companies in Madagascar, said the Chinese Embassy in the country attaches great importance to this operation because the two countries have maintained a close relationship and deep friendship. He said Chinese companies thrive in Madagascar and the island country is like their second homeland. The Sino-Malagasy relationship has been maintained for a long time and continues from generation to generation, Mr. Wang added...

A February 18, 2012, satellite view of Cyclone Giovanna, from NASA

Cyclone hits as evaluation team visits Madagascar

Dennis McClean in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction: For the second year in a row, Valentine's Day on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar has been marked by the arrival of a tropical cyclone. Cyclone Giovanna made landfall on the east coast shortly after midnight, bringing torrential rain and reported wind speeds of up to 231 km per hour.

One death has been reported so far in Brickaville where unconfirmed reports indicate severe damage to the local hospital and many people rendered homeless. In the capital, Antananarivo, power has been cut off and drivers ordered to stay off the roads.

Last year, Cyclone Bingiza also hit the island on February 14, and killed 14 people and destroyed nearly 6,000 homes over the course of five days. Schools for over 7,000 children were damaged.

The imminent arrival of Cyclone Giovanna injected an unusual dose of reality into the work of an evaluation team from the UK's York University which arrived on the island a week ago to assess the impact of UNICEF and the Ministry of Education's Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness and Response programme.

Yesterday, Dr. Sean Deely, Deputy Director of York University's Postwar Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) was at a school in Analangirofo, close to where the cyclone was expected to make landfall and said: "It was amazing to see the kids preparing for the cyclone and the extent of their knowledge."...

Intense Tropical Cyclone Giovanna approaching Madagascar on February 13, 2012

Rural development gets help from the sky

Seed Daily: The International Fund for Agricultural Development has been funding projects in Madagascar for over 30 years to eradicate rural poverty. With the country facing an exploding population and food crisis, the agency is looking skyward for support. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is not only working in Madagascar but also supporting poor rural people around the world to help them grow more food and achieve better livelihoods.

Earth observation satellites allow objective assessments of remote rural areas to help design, plan and monitor the impact of IFAD's development projects. ESA and IFAD have been working together to identify the detailed information needed to support selected projects in Madagascar.

ESA has carried out three trials to demonstrate how state-of-the-art Earth observation services can provide this information and improve the impact of IFAD's project.

Strengthening food security: One of IFAD's projects is to strengthen the food security of the rural population in the dry, famine-prone region of the Mandrare Basin by increasing productivity of the irrigated and rain-fed crops.

…Improving development planning: IFAD's project to support development in the Menabe region focuses on the sustainable expansion of arable land, mainly through irrigation schemes and securing agricultural land.

Securing land rights: IFAD is supporting a scheme introduced by the Malagasy Government that offers rural farmers the opportunity to formalise ownership of the land on which they depend….

Lake Kinkony in Madagascar, shot by NASA

Lemurs of Madagascar offer clues to global-warming impact

Mike Williams in the Rice University News: Global warming may present a threat to animal and plant life even in biodiversity hot spots once thought less likely to suffer from climate change, according to a new study from Rice University.

Research by Amy Dunham, a Rice assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, detailed for the first time a direct correlation between the frequency of El Niño and a threat to life in Madagascar, a tropical island that acts as a refuge for many unique species that exist nowhere else in the world. In this case, the lemur plays the role of the canary in the coal mine.

Even tropical animals, such as lemurs, may be threatened by global warming, according to a new study from Rice. … Dunham said most studies of global warming focus on temperate zones. "We all know about the polar bears and their melting sea ice," she said. "But tropical regions are often thought of as refuges during past climate events, so they haven’t been given as much attention until recently.

"We're starting to realize that not only are these hot spots of biodiversity facing habitat degradation and other anthropogenic effects, but they're also being affected by the same changes we feel in the temperate zones."

…The warming of global sea temperatures may "enhance" El Niño cycles, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Dunham found that in Ranomafana, contrary to expectations, El Niño makes wet seasons wetter. "When it rains heavily, lemurs are not active. They sit there and wait for the rain to stop, huddling for warmth," Dunham said. Anecdotal evidence suggested heavy rains knock fruit off the trees when lactating lemurs need it most, and may even kill trees outright.

Dunham learned from the data that cyclones making landfall have a direct negative effect on the fecundity – or potential reproductive capacity – of lemurs. The team also discovered that fecundity "was negatively affected when El Niño occurred in the period before conception, perhaps altering ovulation, or during the second six months of life, possibly reducing infant survival during weaning," they wrote.

"Madagascar's biodiversity is an ecological treasure," Dunham said. "But its flora and fauna already face extinction from rapid deforestation and exploitation of natural resources. The additional negative effects of climate change make conservation concerns even more urgent."…

A lemur in Madagascar, shot by either Visionholder or Stooof, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Authorities put death toll from Madagascar storm to 78

Sify News: A tropical storm that hit the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar this month killed at least 78 people and affected some 145,000, according to a new toll authorities released Tuesday. Madagascar's southeastern regions were the worst affected by tropical storm Hubert, which brought severe weather between March 8 and 12.

Thirty-four people remain missing, authorities said, while rains inundated more than 26,000 hectares of rice fields in an area of the southeast and killed 810 cows. The cyclone season began in November and extends until April.

In recent years, cyclones in the impoverished country have caused huge destruction and killed scores.

Struggling to reach cyclone-hit villages in Madagascar

AllAfrica.com via IRIN: Tropical storm Hubert battered Madagascar on 10 March, cutting off entire communities in the southeast from emergency aid. A limited amount of relief - mainly food items - has been flown in because of damage to infrastructure, and aid agencies are trying to reach people in need of assistance via the river systems.

Dia Styvanley Soa, spokeswoman for Madagascar's disaster management agency, BNGRC, told IRIN that according to the latest estimates, "36 people lost their lives and some 85,000 have been affected", and eight people lost their lives in mudslides on 15 March. "We now have a problem with logistics - many roads have been cut off and many communities are now isolated," she said, particularly in the southeastern province of Fianarantsoa.

A statement by the BNGRC on 14 March said 20 tonnes of rice and other relief items, like medicines and tents, had been distributed, but more was needed. We now have a problem with logistics - many roads have been cut off and many communities are now isolated In previous years the BNGRC had managed to store relief items throughout the country in anticipation of the "cyclone season", but this year pre-positioning had not been possible, Soa said.

Madagascar lies in the main path of storms crossing the western Indian Ocean and is battered by cyclones every year; five have struck in the last two years, affecting over 463,000 people…

Locator map of Madagascar by Rei-Artur, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License

Preparing for cyclones in Madagascar

AllAfrica.com via IRIN: Two near misses by huge storms rolling in from the Indian Ocean have signalled an early start to Madagascar's cyclone season, prompting the humanitarian community to appeal for "urgent" preparedness funding. Meteorologists forecast that four to five intense cyclones could strike Madagascar during the 2009/10 season.

The approaching Tropical Storm Bongani, hot on the heels of Cyclone Anja in mid-November, provided a wake-up call for aid agencies and the partly paralyzed national disaster management authority.

A UN Country Team statement on 25 November "raised concern over the approaching cyclone season that could seriously affect the lives of up to 600,000 people", and appealed for US$6 million "to be used for pre-positioning stocks in the most vulnerable regions of the country".

The concept of preparedness is not new to Madagascar. The island lies in the main path of storms crossing the Western Indian Ocean and is battered by cyclones every year; five have struck it in the last two years, affecting over 463,000 people.

…The focus had started shifting from a reactive approach - limited to response and recovery after an event - to a more comprehensive approach centred on preparedness. "We can see the payoff of prepositioning stocks ahead of the cyclone season. This has made it possible to help victims immediately," IRIN quoted Colonel Jean Rakotomalala, then Executive Secretary of the disaster response agency, BNGRC, who stressed the importance of recent investments in disaster risk reduction in January 2009....

Locator map of Madagascar by Vardion, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License