Madagascar - The African Mirror

Mar

2023

Mozambique braces for tropical storm Freddy

TROPICAL storm Freddy is due to hit the coast of Southern Africa again early on Saturday, after killing at least 27 people in Mozambique and Madagascar since it first made landfall last month. One of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, Freddy may also have broken the record for the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which said the current record is held by a 31-day hurricane in 1994. Freddy was first named on Feb. 6, 33 days ago. More than 171,000 people were affected after the cyclone swept through southern Mozambique two weeks ago,…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Mozambicans seek shelter as storm Freddy makes landfall

NEWS

MANUEL MUCARI MOZAMBICANS took shelter as tropical storm Freddy made landfall in a small coastal town, with heavy rain expected to batter the country's southern provinces for several days. French weather forecaster Meteo France, which has a cyclone-monitoring station on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, said Freddy hit the coast near the tourist town of Vilankulo in Inhambane province around 2 p.m. local time (1200 GMT). The situation was calm two hours later, with no casualties reported although trees and rooftops had fallen, said Vilankulo district administrator Edmundo Galiza Matos in a statement. Pictures posted by Matos on…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Death toll from cyclone Freddy in Madagascar rises to 4 – govt

NEWS

THE death toll in Madagascar from tropical cyclone Freddy has risen to four, the government said, as the storm moved west across the island nation toward mainland Africa. Freddy made landfall in southeastern Madagascar late on Tuesday with gusts of up to 180 km per hour (110 miles per hour), flooding the area and ripping roofs off houses. Its arrival came nearly a month after storm Cheneso killed 33 people and forced thousands from their homes in Madagascar. In a statement, the government's National Office of Risks and Disasters revised the death toll up to four from one earlier. The storm has…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

As cyclone nears, Mauritius and Madagascar brace for floods, storm surge

NEWS

MAURITIUS grounded flights and shut its stock exchange as tropical cyclone Freddy approached the island in the Indian Ocean, while emergency teams braced for heavy rains, floods and landslides in four regions on Madagascar. The cyclone, packing wind gusts of up to 120 km per hour (75 miles per hour), posed a direct threat to Mauritius, its weather service said. "As Freddy approaches ... (a) storm surge is likely to cause coastal inundation in risk areas. It is, therefore, strictly advised" not to go to sea, the service's bulletin said. The cyclone could pass as close as 120 km (75…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Tropical storm kills 30 in Madagascar, thousands displaced

NEWS

TROPICAL storm Cheneso has killed 30 people in Madagascar, 20 are missing and thousands have been displaced, authorities said. Cheneso, which made landfall on January 19, was Madagascar's first tropical storm of the year. A series of such storms each year typically hit the Indian Ocean island nation. The government's Office for Risk and Disaster Management said in a report released late Monday that nearly 37,000 people had been displaced by the storm, which caused flooding and landslides. The government announced a death toll of 16 last week. At least 138 people were killed and about 130,000 were left without homes in January…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Climate change is threatening Madagascar’s famous forests – our study shows how serious it is

ENVIRONMENT

GLOBAL climate change doesn’t only cause the melting of polar ice caps, rising sea levels and extreme weather events. It also has a direct effect on many tropical habitats and the animals and plants that inhabit them. As fossil fuel emissions continue to drive climate change, large areas of land are forecast to become much hotter and drier by the end of this century. Authors DANIEL HENDING, Postdoctoral Research Assistant Animal Vibration Lab, University of Oxford MARC HOLDERIED, Professor in Sensory Biology, University of Bristol Many ecosystems, including tropical forests, wetlands, swamps and mangroves, will be unable to cope with…

Mar

2022

By The African Mirror

Madagascans stave off encroaching dunes with plants

ENVIRONMENT

CHRISTOPHE VAN DER PERRE and ALKIS KONSTANTIDINIS FIELDS, homes, wells and tombs were gradually being buried under shifting sand dunes on this windswept stretch of Madagascar's southern coastline until the local community fought back, armed only with plants and elbow grease. After years of painstaking planting by hundreds of local volunteers, 36 hectares of dunes have been stabilised by long lines of plants that trap moisture in the ground and stop the relentless wind from blowing the sand further inland. The World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations agency, provided most of the plants as part of a project to…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Madagascar faces one of the world’s first climate change famines

ENVIRONMENT

KIM HARRISBERG THE cracked red earth and sunken eyes of gaunt children, their bellies swollen from acute malnutrition, bear witness to the devastation being wrought by Madagascar's worst drought in four decades. As the south of the island is pushed to the brink of famine, climate change researchers say such harrowing images should serve as an alarm bell over the need for drastic action to cut planet-heating emissions and climate-proof global food systems. According to the United Nations, more than 1.14 million people in the south of the Indian Ocean country are food-insecure due to the drought, which some experts have blamed…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Famine looms in southern Madagascar’

NEWS

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY FAMINE threatens southern Madagascar after drought and sandstorms ruined harvests, reducing people to eating locusts and leaves, the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday. The lives of children are in danger, especially those under five years old whose malnutrition rates have reached "alarming levels", Amer Daoudi, senior director of global WFP operations, said by videolink from Madagascar's capital Antananarivo. At least 1.35 million people are in need of food assistance in the region, but the WFP is only reaching 750,000 with "half-rations" due to financial constraints, he said. "Famine looms in southern Madagascar as communities…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

IMF approves $312.4 mln credit facility for Madagascar

BUSINESS

THE International Monetary Fund's executive board has approved a $312.4 million extended credit facility arrangement for Madagascar to help it cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate-related shocks, the fund said. "The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a severe human and economic toll on Madagascar, reversing recent social and economic progress, and creating fiscal and external financing needs," Antoinette Sayeh, IMF's deputy managing director, said. "Given that Madagascar remains at a moderate risk of debt distress, the authorities plan to follow a prudent debt management strategy that relies on concessional financing ..." The fund said following its board's…