Mauritius - Tropical Cyclone Dina OCHA Situation Report No. 3

OCHA/GVA - 2002/0019
OCHA Situation Report No. 3
Mauritius- Tropical Cyclone Dina
23 January 2002

This report is based on information from the UN Resident Coordinator for Mauritius.

Situation

1. The Cyclone 'Dina' passed as close as 15 km northwest of Mauritius at 04:00 AM on 22 January and at around 16:30 PM moved away from the Island. The Cyclone reached level 7 of the Scale (highest level being 8). The wind gusts were at 206 km per hour in Port Louis and were accompanied by intermittent and torrential rain that caused severe floods in some areas of the city and in the fields.

2. There was very substantive damage caused to the infrastructure, the electrical power and telecommunications network. All electrical power was out in the island since Monday, 22 January and 90% of the city was still in the dark today. Heavy damage was also reported in the agricultural sector, especially sugar crops, one of the main economic sources in Mauritius.

3. To date, 3 deaths and 50 injuries were reported. The well-coordinated preventive measures taken at the beginning of the disaster, in the form of information dissemination and recommendations, appear to have minimised human casualties. However, the heavy damage caused to buildings and homes has left many homeless as well as private and government offices closed.

4. As far as the UN system is concerned, the Offices have been closed since Monday, 21 January. Although no UN staff members have been injured, there has been varying degrees of damage to houses depending on their location. The UN premises have suffered some floods caused by the rain coming through some windowsills.

National Response

5. The Mauritius Government is well organized to face this type of natural disaster and through its Special Crisis Committee has held Special Cabinet meetings on the emergency, one of which was to take place today.

6. No request for international assistance has been received by the UN system in Mauritius so far.

7. OCHA remains in contact with the UNDP Office in Port Louis, Mauritius and will revert with further information when available.

8. This situation report, together with information on other ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int

Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers:
Mr. J. McGoldrick/Ms. Y. Sawada
Direct Tel. +41-22-917 17 12/1768

Press contact:
(in GVA) - Ms. Elizabeth Byrs,direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53
(in N.Y.) - Ms. Phyllis Lee,direct Tel. +1-212-963 48 32