After Cyclone Gezani devastated Toamasina, flattening homes and cutting off basic services, communities are still struggling to recover. We catch up with Medair’s Emergency Response team, who were flown in by MAF to bring rapid assistance to vulnerable families.
Story by Antsatiana Gino Randrianasolo
In February, Cyclone Gezani hit Toamasina, a city on Madagascar’s east coast. The destruction was immense. Even now, homes lie flattened, infrastructure is torn apart, and entire neighbourhoods are left struggling to access electricity and clean drinking water for weeks at a time.
For many families, what had taken decades to build was gone in a single night.
The Medair team was able to quickly respond through an MAF flight.
“Travel by road isn’t an option in this kind of emergency,” said Rajaonirina Keng Laricha, Medair Communications Officer. “We’ve been working with MAF for years. We share the same vision, the same values. As Christian organisations, we want to reach those who are hardest to reach, and MAF makes that easier.”
Medair is a Christian humanitarian organisation that responds to conflict, disease, and disasters so that the world’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach people can live with dignity and hope.
Travel by road isn’t an option in this kind of emergency
Over the six weeks the Medair team spent in Toamasina, they were met with overwhelming needs.
“Even large infrastructure is heavily damaged,” said Ramanantseheno Onitiana Manohisoa, who handles Medair’s emergency response team communications. “Finding a place to stay was already a challenge.”
Electricity, they said, only began returning slowly after a month. Across the city and surrounding areas, families were displaced, some moving from one fragile shelter to another as structures continued to collapse.
“This house collapsed completely, so we moved uphill to another shelter but that one collapsed too,” said Flogèle Bruchard, one of the affected residents of Sahasandana village, Ambodiriana, Toamasina II. “We kept moving from one house to another, four times in total, and each one fell. In the end, we went all the way down the hill and stayed there until morning.”
We kept moving from one house to another, four times in total, and each one fell
While other organisations focused on the urban centre, Medair extended its response to harder-to-reach areas like Toamasina II and beyond, where communities rely almost entirely on their crops. This meant that the impact of the cyclone was even more severe.
“In the bush, people depend on what they grow,” Larisha explained. “After the cyclone, there was nothing left. So even when we provided financial support, most of it went straight to buying food instead of rebuilding homes.”
Over the course of six weeks, the team carried out an emergency response, distributing hygiene kits, essential non-food items, and cash assistance, while also offering basic training to help communities begin stabilising again.
In the bush, people depend on what they grow
“Thank you for helping us,” said Urbain Marius Esperance, one of the project beneficiaries from Ambalamanasy Caro II. “The materials you provided – the nails, the hammer, and the rest of the kit, have made it easier for us to rebuild our home.”
But the needs were immense, especially for the most vulnerable.
“What people had built or invested in over decades wasn’t just damaged,” said Onitiana. “For many, it was completely gone. They had to begin anew.”
For Medair, this response was different in scale but not in purpose. The cyclone had affected nearly the entire population of Toamasina, so they had to react.
They had to begin anew
Throughout the response, their movement in and out of Toamasina was handled by MAF.
As recovery slowly begins, the signs of the cyclone are still everywhere. But so are the quiet efforts of those rebuilding.