Cyclones frequently smash into the tropical Indian Ocean island of Madagascar between January and May.

In 2007, six cyclones hit the island, killing at least 150 people and destroying homes and crops in Madagascar's worst season on record.

Hundreds of thousands of people were affected as flood waters covered houses, cut off main roads and wiped out paddy fields. In some areas, whole villages were covered in mudslides.

The 2008 season began at the end of January when Cyclone Fame killed 12 people and left thousands in need of aid.

Cyclone Ivan, which struck three weeks later, was one of the biggest to hit the island. With winds of up to 125 mph (200 kph) it was nearly as intense as Hurricane Katrina.

It killed more than 80 people and left over 200,000 homeless as it ripped off roofs, downed power lines, damaged schools and hospitals and caused extensive flooding.

Scientists say rising sea temperatures linked to climate change are likely to increase the frequency and intensity of cyclones in the tropics over the coming decades, and some suspect they have already.

Bruno Maes, country representative for U.N. children's agency UNICEF, said in 2007 that the effects of that year's cyclone season were like the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and called Madagascar a "silent emergency".

Madagascar, home to nearly 20 million people, is located off the southeast coast of Africa. It is the world's fourth largest island and its biggest producer of vanilla. Some 85 percent of the population were living on less than $2 a day in 2005, according to the 2007/2008 U.N. Human Development Report.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are chronic, particularly in the drought-prone south.