Cyclone death toll jumps to 111 in Madagascar

 

At least 111 people in Madagascar are now known to have died since Cyclone Batsirai hit the Indian Ocean island nearly a week ago.

Many homes simply crumpled in the ferocious winds, leaving around 30,000 people living in emergency shelters, according to the national emergency agency.

Southern African nations were already reeling from January’s Tropical Storm Ana.

Storms are common in this part of the world but the climate crisis has caused them to become more destructive.

It has also worsened drought, which has hit southern Madagascar hard, in turn making the humanitarian response after these storms even more urgent.

In Madagascar, 87 of the 111 deaths resulting from Cyclone Batsirai were in the south-eastern district of Ikongo, the national disaster agency says.

Whereas all 55 people killed by Tropical Storm Ana were in another part of Madagascar further north, Reuters reports.