Madagascar: Project Information - Cyclone Gafilo

Cyclone Gafilo struck the East Coast of Madagascar early Sunday morning, on the 8th of March. Reaching winds of 330 kilometers an hour, Gafilo is one of the strongest cyclones to hit Madagascar in the last 50 years. Damage to the city of Antalaha and surrounding areas was devastating, with early reports claiming that 90% of the city was destroyed. Over 100,000 people have been left homeless and scores killed and injured. CARE teams as well as other Government and donor teams are in the field now trying to fully assess the damage of this monster storm. Though the most damage will occurr in the initial impact zone, the cyclone carried on cutting a swathe through to the Western side of the island to the provincial capital of Mahajanga, where its heavy rains and winds caused further damage, in particular to the West Coast where the region was just beginning to recover from Cyclone Elita which had struck 6 weeks earlier. The government appealed for International assistance on March 10 and International donors and NGOs are determining how best to proceed to respond to this appeal. The town of Antalaha is the base of one of CARE's regional operations and CARE has had experience in dealing with major cyclones in the area before.
CARE will develop a program in conjunction with its financial partners that will identify gaps not being filled by other donors in the short term and design longer term rehabilitation activities to ensure key communication and agriculture infrastructure are rehabilitated in the medium term. Final needs assessment has not yet been completed but immediate needs for humanitarian supplies including medicines, plastic sheeting, water purifying liquid, soap, mosquito nets and food will be considered if appropriate as a possible response activity in the short term. High intensity labor projects using food in hard hit areas where food stocks have been destroyed building up road and agriculture infrastructure will also be included in the possible menu of response activities in the short to medium term. CARE is operational on the ground and has already been working closely with local government officials to assess the damage and identify priority needs. CARE will immediately commit emergency funding from the ERF to respond and is working closely with its traditional financial partners to secure funding for an operation that could reach between $500,000-1,000,000.