On Dec. 14 last year, Cyclone Chido devastated the tiny island of Mayotte, which sits in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. The cyclone killed at least 39 people and left hundreds without homes. When Mayotte needed help, they had just one emergency number to call: France.
Mayotte is an “overseas department” of France, which technically puts it on par with any other region of mainland France. The only difference is Mayotte is about 5,000 miles away, is extremely densely populated, and had a GDP per capita of €11,579 compared to mainland France GDP per capita of $57,870, based on 2022 data.
France sent in troops and aid, but locals said it was nowhere near enough and took too long to reach them. French President Emmanuel Macron slapped back. “You are happy to be in France. Because if it wasn’t France, I tell you, you would be 10,000 times deeper in shit. There is no other place in the Indian Ocean that has received this much help. That’s a fact,” he said.
About the author
Jesse Chase-Lubitz
Jesse Chase-Lubitz covers climate change and multilateral development banks for Devex. She previously worked at Nature Magazine, where she received a Pulitzer grant for an investigation into land reclamation. She has written for outlets such as Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and The Japan Times, among others. Jesse holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics.
