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Madagascar seeks $242 mln after cyclone kills 80

30 Mar 2007 08:42:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

ANTANANARIVO, March 30 (Reuters) - Madagascar on Friday appealed for $242 million to help thousands uprooted from their homes after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean island, killing 80 people and destroying paddy-fields and roads.

According to the government's disaster management agency, the Indlala cyclone that struck north Madagascar on March 15 has affected 105,000 people, leaving many of them homeless. It said 80 people had been confirmed dead, up from 69 a week ago.

"We are short of rice, animals are dying and roads are completely cut off," President Marc Ravalomanana told reporters, explaining the most urgent needs in the government's appeal for $242 million from international donors.

"In certain places, it takes two hours in a canoe to reach the villages." Local media reports say the price of rice has tripled since the cyclone on the world's fourth largest island which has a population of 18.6 million people.

The storm ruined some 8,280 hectares of paddy-fields and wiped out more than 3,600 houses. In some areas, whole villages were covered in mudslides, officials said. "The people affected urgently need food and water," said Alexis Poniatowski, spokesman for Care International, one of various aid agencies attending the crisis. The agency said the most urgent needs were reconstruction of houses, road repairs and the rehabilitation of rice fields.

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Last updated:Fri Mar 30 08:43:57 2007