Summary

NAME: MAD CYCLONE 110304N TAPE: EF04/0292 IN_TIME: 11:24:33:14 DURATION: 00:02:08:07 SOURCES: APTN DATELINE: Antalaha, 11 Mar 2004 RESTRICTIONS: See Script ALL LIVEWIRE MATERIAL SHOTLIST Antalaha, Northeastern Province 1 Various aerials of submerged countryside 2 Various of damage visible on the beach; damaged trees and houses 3 Various of sunken fishing vessels just off the coast 4 Various of tents for homeless people 5 Sign on tent saying Action Humanitaire France 6 Various of children and mother outside tents 7 Injured man with bandaged leg sitting in opening of tent 8 SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Huggins, WFP's Regional Public Information Officer: Eighty percent of the population has been affected in some way by the cyclone The World Food Programme has moved about 60 tonnes of emergency relief supplies to here and we will be distributing it in the days ahead What is of particular concern to us is the mid-term to long-term repercussions of the cyclone Most of the60 to 80 percent of the vanilla crop of this region has been destroyed and there are families and communities totally dependent on its production so they will continue to need international assistance for some time ahead 9 Various of damaged village 10 French helicopter unloading supplies STORYLINE More than 80-thousand people have been cut off from the outside world since Cyclone Gafilo ripped through northern Madagascar on Sunday, collapsing bridges, toppling trees and reducing tarred roads to gravel At least 43 people were killed and thousands displaced by the cyclone, which whipped through towns and fields with winds of 235 kilometres per hour (146 miles per hour), dumping vast quantities of rain The northern port of Antalaha was the first town hit Sunday Most of its wooden houses were flattened, roofs were ripped off government buildings and trees snapped like matchsticks Humanitarian workers estimate 80 percent of its 266-thousand people were affected Villagers from the surrounding hills have been trickling into Antalaha after heavy rains turned the earth into soggy red clay, collapsing their homes The French Red Cross has set up 20 large white tents on a football field which are accommodating 419 people The Red Cross, working with a French military contingent that arrived on Tuesday from nearby Reunion island, is providing blankets, plastic sheeting and other material to rebuild their homes The main concern now is providing relief supplies for the survivors and the prevention of diseases like cholera and diaorrhea The World Food Programme estimates the country will need about five thousand tons of food, most of which they already have in place Most residents survive on farming and fishing, but the storm sank their ships Antalaha's water supply has also been cut off and humanitarian workers have called for immediate assistance, saying they do not know how much food or fresh water there is left The main rice growing area which feeds the entire country has effectively been destroyed and there is little hope for a good harvest The vanilla crop, the country's main export, has also been wiped out It takes four years for a crop to mature, and farmers were just recovering from a cyclone that hit in 2000 When Gafilo hit Madagascar, the country was still recovering from Cyclone Elita, which killed 29 people and left about 44-thousand homeless, according to UN figures In 1994, Cyclone Geralda affected 450-thousand people In total, it is believed Cyclone Galifo claimed 154 lives Port authorities on Thursday said that a ferry that went missing off Madagascar sank with all but two of its 113 passengers and crew trapped inside The survivors told officials at the northwestern port of Mahajanga that the ship capsised on Sunday evening in violent seas They said they washed ashore in Madagascar the following day on a makeshift raft