Ms Goossens recently returned from a mission to the port city of Toamasina (also known as Tamatave), the country’s second largest urban centre, where Gezani made landfall on Tuesday night with wind gusts of up to 250 kilometers per hour.
“The scale of the destruction is truly overwhelming,” Goossens insisted.
Almost 40 deaths
He said that according to authorities, 80 percent of the city has been damaged and that “it is currently running on approximately five percent electricity.”
“There is no water and one of the WFP warehouses and our office were also completely destroyed during the cyclone,” he added.
Evaluations are ongoing but to date authorities report 38 deaths and 374 people injured.
Families were left with nothing
The U.N. food agency official said many families have abandoned their homes and there was “serious” damage to buildings, businesses, schools and the city hospital.
“During my visit I saw families trying to recover what little was left of their house,” he said. “Many spend the night in houses whose roofs have been torn off.”
Uprooted trees and debris throughout the city are blocking streets, Goossens said, and fuel is difficult to come by.
“The families tell us that they have lost everything,” he stressed. “Many are sheltering in damaged homes or temporary sites and are unsure how they will be able to access their next meal.”
Growing needs
In addition to the urgent need for food, Ms Goossens highlighted aid workers’ concerns about water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, as a lack of clean water and damaged infrastructure increase the risk of disease outbreaks.
He also mentioned “the growing concern for the protection of vulnerable groups”, such as women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Mobilizing support
In anticipation of the crisis, WFP and its partners have been providing cash assistance to the most vulnerable households, allowing them to buy some food and better prepare before the storm hits.
The UN food agency is mobilizing its “last food stocks,” which will be distributed in coordination with national disaster relief teams, Ms. Goossens explained.
However, the needs on the ground exceed WFP’s capacity and the agency is calling for urgent support from donors.
The latest disaster “adds to an already very critical food security situation,” Goossens said, as before the back-to-back cyclones, 1.57 million people across the country were food insecure, including 84,000 facing emergency levels of hunger, according to the latest data from the CPI, a U.N.-backed global food security monitoring system.
“We are also at the peak of the lean season here in Madagascar and funding shortfalls remain alarming… Our lean season response, as well as the cyclone response, faces a shortfall of $18 million over the next six months,” the WFP official warned.
“We will need…sustained support over the coming months to help people recover, rebuild and strengthen their resilience in the face of new crises,” he added. “In fact, we are at the beginning of the cyclone season. Therefore, we are also worried that this is just the beginning.”