The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Madagascar: ‘Overwhelming’ destruction, surging needs after back-to-back cyclones – WFP
Some 10 days after tropical cyclone Fytia brought heavy rains and flooding to Madagascar, cyclone Gezani has left the island’s main port in ruins, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters from Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo, WFP Country Director Tania Goossens said some 400,000 people are facing acute humanitarian needs after the island was hit by back-to-back cyclones in the space of three weeks. Ms. Goossens recently returned from a mission to the port city Toamasina (also known as Tamatave), the country’s second largest urban centre, where Gezani made landfall on Tuesday evening with wind gusts of up to 250 kilometres per hour.
“The scale of the destruction is really overwhelming,” Ms. Goossens insisted.
She said that according to the authorities 80 per cent of the city has suffered damage and that it is “running on roughly five per cent electricity at the moment.”
“There's no water and one of WFP’s warehouses and our office was also completely destroyed during the cyclone,” she added.
Assessments are ongoing but to date the authorities report 38 deaths and 374 people injured.
The UN food agency official said that many families have left their homes and that there was “severe” damage to buildings, businesses, schools and the city’s hospital.
“During my visit, I saw families trying to recover the little that was left of their home,” she recounted. “Many are spending the night in homes where the roofs have been torn off.”
Uprooted trees and debris across the city are blocking streets, Ms. Goossens said, and fuel is difficult to come by.
“Families are telling us that they have lost everything,” she stressed. “Many are sheltering in damaged homes or temporary sites and uncertain about how they can access their next meal.”
In addition to the urgent need for food Ms. Goossens highlighted humanitarians’ concerns about water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, as a lack of clean water and damaged infrastructure raise the risk of disease outbreaks. She also mentioned “rising protection concerns for vulnerable groups” such as women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.
In anticipation of the shock WFP and partners have been providing cash assistance to the most vulnerable households allowing them to purchase some food and better prepare before the storm struck.
The UN food agency is now 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 donor support.
The latest disaster “comes on top of an already very critical food security situation,” Ms. Goossens said, as already 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 IPC, a UN-backed global food security monitoring system.
“We're also in the peak of the lean season here in Madagascar and funding shortfalls remain alarming… Our lean season response as well as cyclone response faces a $18 million gap over the next six months,” the WFP official warned.
“We will need… sustained support over the coming months to help people recover, to rebuild and strengthen their resilience against further shocks,” she added. “In fact, we are in at the start of the cyclone season. So, we are also concerned that this is only just the beginning.”
-Ends-
STORY Madagascar Cyclone Gezani - WFP
TRT: 4:25”
SOURCE: UNTV CH and WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 13 FEBRUARY 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND AND 11-12 FEBRUARY 2026, TOAMASINA (TAMATAVE), MADAGASCAR – credit WFP
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “Just in the space of three weeks, Madagascar has been hit by back-to-back cyclones. So right now, according to initial estimates, we have about 400,000 people that are facing acute needs because of these back-to-back shocks.”
4. Medium over-the-shoulder shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “I've just come back from the cyclone-hit Tamatave. So this is where Gezani made landfall Tuesday evening. Tamatave is Madagascar's second-largest city and the scale of the destruction is really overwhelming.”
6. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “The authorities have reported that 80 per cent of the city has suffered damage. The city's running on roughly 5 per cent electricity at the moment. There's no water and in fact one of WFP’s warehouses and our office was also completely destroyed during the cyclone.”
8. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “Families have left their homes and we saw many buildings, businesses and schools, even the hospital having suffered severe damages. During my visit, I saw families trying to recover the little that was left of their home. Many are spending actually the night in homes where the roofs have been torn off. And this at a time when already yesterday we experienced rain. Rain was incoming. There's uprooted trees and debris across the city. This is blocking streets and fuel is also difficult to come by.”
10. Wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “In addition to the urgent need for food, we are concerned about water, sanitation, hygiene conditions, as a lack of clean water and damaged infrastructure raises the risk of disease outbreaks. They're also rising protection concerns for vulnerable groups, particularly for women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.”
12. Medium-wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “Families are telling us that they have lost everything. Many are sheltering, as I mentioned, in damaged homes or temporary sites and uncertain about how they can access their next meal.”
14. Medium-wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.
15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tania Goossens, Country Director for Madagascar, World Food Programme (WFP): “We will need, of course, sustained support over the coming months to help people recover, to rebuild and strengthen their resilience against further shocks. And in fact, we are in at the start of the cyclone season. So we are also of course concerned that this is only just the beginning.”
16. WFP B-Roll: 11-12 FEBRUARY 2026, TOAMASINA, MADAGASCAR – credit WFP:
- Wide and medium shots: destruction due to Cyclone Gezani shot in Toamasina (also known as Tamatave) on 11 and 12 February.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In Sudan’s El Obeid, women risk drone attacks by day and rape by night to access water
As war intensifies in the city of El Obeid in North Kordofan state, filling up a jerrycan of water comes at a high risk for women and girls: by day, drones strike water points and by night, women who venture out to fill a bucket risk rape. UN Women warns of a dual terror that has turned access to water into a deadly gamble.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights spokesperson Shabia Mantoo made the following remarks on stranded Hormuz seafarers abandoned for months at sea, at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Danielle Bell, head of UN Human Rights’ Ukraine team, spoke of the deepening impact of the war on the civilian population.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following remarks Intensified Israeli attacks in Gaza.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DR Congo: Ebola outbreak continues to expand, WHO sees signs of stabilization
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN health teams and partners are still racing to contain the rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak, despite ongoing insecurity in eastern areas where the virus has taken hold. As of 19 July, the DRC Government has recorded 2,423 confirmed cases, including 967 deaths and 469 patient recoveries.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights spokeperson Jeremy Laurence appealed for calm in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir amid a wave of unrest ahead of regional elections at the end of the month.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
UN humanitarians working in war-torn Sudan warned on Friday of growing dramatic needs among the more than 100,000 displaced people now sheltering in camps in the city of El Obeid. "We are providing even not the full food ration to the people, but even that reduced food ration is being shared by the recipients with other families, because they know that they don't have any other source of income," said World Food Programme (WFP) Sudan Country Director Abdallah Alwardat.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘This is a fire’: DRC Ebola outbreak is fastest-growing ever, warns WHO
Infections of the Bundibugyo species of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reached record highs and a majority of new cases are coming from “unknown chains of transmission”, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
In war-torn Sudan, a deadly new cholera outbreak has already claimed more than 100 lives, heightening serious concerns for vulnerable communities including in besieged El-Obeid, where daily drone attacks reportedly continue to hamper aid access.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL
Ceasefire reduces violence in South Lebanon, but challenges remain as communities face devastation.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Ebola continues to spread in DRC, death toll passes 500 – WHO
The outbreak of the deadly Bundibugyo species of Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is expanding, while the push to accelerate testing and identify effective treatment options continues, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Statements , Conferences , Edited News | ITU , ODET , PGA , UN , UNESCO
UN chief António Guterres appealed on Monday for far-reaching, worldwide controls on Artificial Intelligence, as increasingly powerful AI chips that are designed for civilian use shift to the battlefield, where “killer robots” are already the norm.