After Cyclone Gezani: Toamasina’s Ruins and the Urgent Call for Climate Justice
Just days after Madagascar was struck by an earlier storm, a far more destructive force hit the island’s eastern coast. Cyclone Gezani roared ashore with extreme winds and torrential rain, leaving the port city of Toamasina, also known as Tamatave shattered.
What unfolded was not simply a natural disaster. It was a humanitarian emergency layered onto political fragility, economic vulnerability, and deep global climate injustice.
Screenshot from the video of France 24
A City Nearly Broken
With wind gusts of more than 200 km/h, Cyclone Gezani caused massive damage in Madagascar’s second-largest city, where about 500,000 people live. Many neighborhoods were completely destroyed. Roofs were torn off houses. Electricity was reduced to very low levels, and clean drinking water became hard to find.
The Malagasy government officially declared a state of national disaster on February 11. Government officials say that up to three-quarters of the city was damaged. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or badly damaged. Roads connecting Toamasina to the capital were blocked in several areas, slowing down aid deliveries and leaving many communities isolated when they needed help the most.
Official reports indicate 59 of fatalities and 15 injured, eight hundreds injured, and more than 250,000 people directly affected. Thousands have been forced to leave their homes, seeking shelter in schools, churches, or makeshift sites often without reliable sanitation or protection from ongoing rains.
In the streets, families search through debris for salvaged metal sheets to patch their roofs. Others sleep under structures that could collapse at any moment. For many, survival has become a daily negotiation with uncertainty.
Humanitarian Response Under Strain
Madagascar’s government has declared a national disaster and appealed for international assistance. Agencies such as the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration have mobilized emergency teams to provide food, cash assistance, and essential relief supplies.
Notably, anticipatory cash transfers were distributed to some of the most vulnerablee housholds before the cyclone made landfall a forward-thinking step in disaster management. This early support allowed families to buy food, secure belongings, and prepare for evacuation. It is a model of proactive governance that deserves recognition and expansion.
However, the scale of destruction has rapidly outpaced available resources. Humanitarian actors warn of severe funding gaps. Before the cyclones, over 1.5 million people in Madagascar were already facing food insecurity. That number is now expected to rise sharply.
Without sustained financial support, emergency rations will run short. Recovery efforts may stall. And once again, the poorest communities will be left to shoulder the heaviest burden.
Democracy, Accountability, and Disaster
Madagascar is navigating a delicate political transition, with military authorities currently holding power. In times of crisis, governance matters profoundly.
Transparent management of relief funds, clear communication with citizens, and inclusive coordination with civil society are not optional, they are essential. When democratic oversight is weak, disasters can deepen inequality, fuel mistrust, and marginalize vulnerable populations further.
A Pattern We Can No Longer Ignore
Cyclone Gezani has been compared in intensity to some of the most destructive storms in Madagascar’s recent history, including Cyclone Geralda, which claimed hundreds of lives. These recurring disasters are not isolated tragedies they reflect a pattern of escalating climate volatility in the Indian Ocean.
Yet Madagascar contributes negligibly to global carbon emissions.
The injustice is stark: those least responsible for climate change face its harshest consequences. Coastal African nations are absorbing impacts shaped by industrial activity far beyond their borders.
Climate justice is not an abstract slogan. In Toamasina, it is the difference between a reinforced hospital and a collapsed ward. Between a stocked food warehouse and empty shelves. Between recovery and permanent displacement.
Beyond Emergency Relief
Immediate humanitarian assistance is critical. But emergency aid alone will not secure Madagascar’s future.
The international community must move beyond symbolic solidarity. This means:
- Expanding accessible climate adaptation financing
- Ensuring predictable funding for disaster preparedness
- Supporting debt relief so that public resources can be invested in resilience
- Strengthening regional early warning systems
- Holding high-emitting nations accountable for loss and damage
For African democracies to thrive, they must be protected from climate shocks that repeatedly erase development gains.
The Voices That Must Be Heard
In the aftermath of Gezani, the images are powerful: uprooted trees, shattered homes, flooded streets. But beyond the images are voices, mothers worried about their children’s next meal, market vendors who lost their entire stock, young people uncertain whether schools will reopen.
Their experiences must shape the response.
At Voices for Democracy and Justice in Africa, we affirm that disaster response is inseparable from justice. True recovery demands transparency, participation, and global responsibility. It demands that climate-vulnerable communities are not treated as perpetual victims, but as rights-holders entitled to protection, dignity, and equitable support.
Toamasina’s devastation is a warning not only about extreme weather, but about the cost of inaction and inequality.
If democracy is to mean anything in the age of climate crisis, it must defend those standing on the frontlines.