Mayotte: “14 million euros” already collected by the Fondation de France to help the population

The Fondation de France has already collected 14 million euros since launching its call for donations for Mayotte on Sunday, an “exceptional surge of generosity”, according to Alexandre Giraud, its director of philanthropic action. “This is the biggest start of emergency fundraising in such a short time at the Fondation de France,” he said.

For comparison, the Fondation de France campaign on the occasion of Hurricane Irma in the Antilles in 2017 collected 15.2 million in total. 13.5 million were collected in total for victims of the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria in 2023 and 10.8 million for the earthquake in Morocco the same year.

“Personnel reinforcements”

Secours catholique indicated that it had dedicated 100,000 euros from its “Urgence France” fund to Mayotte, not specific to this overseas department. The association tries to get in touch with its local volunteers, who are people who are being helped, in precarious circumstances, first affected by the cyclone.

As for the French Red Cross, which also launched an appeal for donations, it was not able to provide information on the amounts collected. In a press release, it indicates having sent “reinforcements of staff” “from Reunion and France just before confinement”, to support the employees and volunteers already present on the island. “Reserves of drinking water and food have been pre-positioned, and our teams on site are ready to intervene as soon as the situation allows,” she said.

The La Poste group announced Thursday that it will issue a donation stamp of 2.39 euros on January 2, including one euro for the benefit of the Red Cross, for which it has released emergency aid of 200,000 euros. This is the fourth donation stamp issued by La Poste in the last 20 years “to help people affected by the tragedies of life”, after the tsunami in Asia in 2004, the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

650 and 800 million euros covered by insurers

The costs of the damage caused by the passage of the cyclone, covered by insurance under the natural disaster regime, were estimated on Thursday between 650 and 800 million euros by the French public reinsurer, the Caisse centrale de réassurance ( CCR). Only 6% of individuals in Mayotte have home insurance, the CCR said in a press release, adding that this was a first estimate which could “be re-evaluated”.

This compensation will be made within the framework of the state of natural disaster, decreed Thursday in the 17 municipalities of the archipelago, by a government decree published in the Official Journal.

According to provisional figures, 31 deaths and some 1,400 injuries were officially recorded in Mayotte five days after the passage of Cyclone Chido, but the authorities fear a much higher toll, while 70% of the inhabitants were seriously affected, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday a “compensation fund” for the uninsured, the amount of which he has not yet revealed. He also promised to “rebuild” Mayotte. “We were able to rebuild our cathedral in five years. It would still be a tragedy if we were unable to rebuild Mayotte,” he declared on Thursday.