The doors of the white van are thrown open. Dozens of armed French police jump on board, their colleagues on the ground form a human chain and get to work.
The van is carrying precious cargo. Water. Small plastic bottles stacked roof high and van deep.
It’s chaotic.
Orders are being shouted in French and Chimaore, the language spoken by Mayotte’s African community.
Security is high. The gendarmes are backed up by armed local police.
Local residents are angry. That anger could easily turn to violence.
It’s why a 10pm curfew remains in place across the island. One resident described the situation as “volcanic”.
Cyclone Chido tore through Mayotte on Sunday, but this is the first water delivery Ouangani has received since Saturday.
Nobody understands why.
‘There’s no word and no one has water’
Arriving at the distribution centre just after the water is loaded on to another van for delivery to nearby villages is Ouangani’s mayor, a young, former English teacher who speaks multiple languages.
He is considered and thoughtful when describing the situation facing his country.
“It’s not sufficient,” he tells me. “There’s no word and no one has water.”
“The authorities weren’t prepared,” he adds. “There’s not only a water problem, it’s food, electricity. Nothing on the island has been done.”
He then delivers a dire warning of “people starving”.
Image: The destruction caused by Cyclone Chido
Image: Residents expressed their fury at the response to the cyclone
I ask him who he thinks is to blame? He says that everyone is responsible.
“I cannot imagine that with all the means we have with technology, that they couldn’t have seen this coming,” he says.
But this region is not remote. It’s only an hour-long drive south of the capital on one winding road.
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1:13
Macron met with anger in Mayotte
This van load of water is supposed to serve between three to five villages in the area.
That’s a population of anywhere between six and 12,000 people. Nobody knows for sure because of the problem with undocumented migrants.
We follow the van to the first drop-off.
The vehicle pulls up and drops off 10 to 20 crates of half-litre plastic bottles. Each crate has 12 small bottles. People have been waiting. They’re mostly women. Each one grabs a pack and disappears.
Within minutes it’s all gone.
Some more people show up seconds later. Their anger at missing out is obvious. “What’s the point?!” a man shouts.
‘It’ll only last about one or two hours’
Fundi has been lucky enough to get some water.
“We only just received aid now, I really don’t think that’s good enough,” she says.
Image: Fundi has a family of seven and said the water given out would only last a couple of hours
They were just outside when they saw the van arrive with the water. Pure luck.
“Usually communication is good, but I don’t know why they came unannounced like that today,” she says.
But it’s not enough, Fundi explains: “Twelve bottles of water that are only 500ml, for a family? That’s really very little, it’ll only last about one to two hours.”
It’s no wonder, Fundi has a family of seven living under one roof.
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