The number of people affected by Cyclone Indlala, which hit Madagascar on March 15, is likely to be around 225,000 - much higher than first reported, according to CARE International today.

An aerial survey by CARE indicates that 75,000 people have been affected in the north-eastern district of Antahala alone, with around 15,000 people left homeless.

Field assessments by CARE and other NGOs in the Maroantsetra area, indicate that at least a further 150,000 people have been affected and that villages with a population of around 60,000 people are still totally underwater.

The Madagascar government had previously been reporting about 78,000 people affected by the storm.

"At least 75,000 people are in urgent need of immediate relief," says Didier Young, CARE International's emergency coordinator in Madagascar. Young adds that most people he encountered in the northeast were asking for food. "These people have lost everything, " he says," their houses, food stocks and their crops."

CARE has been distributing nearly 60 tons of food—mostly rice and beans—in Antalaha for the last three days. An additional 135 tons of food provided by the World Food Programme is currently en-route for distribution by CARE in Maroantsetra.

Much of the damage was caused by torrential rains to crops that were about to be harvested. There is serious concern that most of the main rice harvest, which was due in May, has been destroyed. The vanilla harvest, which provides the principal source of income in this part of Madagascar, has also largely been destroyed by the wind. As a result, a susbtantial part of Madagascar is now facing a potential food crisis.

About CARE International: CARE International has been working in Madagascar since 1992 and is currently running 18 development projects, while responding to two ongoing emergencies. More than one million Malagasy are estimated to benefit from CARE's assistance.

For more information and interviews, please contact: In Madagascar: Alexis Poniatowski, email: poniatowski@carefrance.org or poniatowski.carefrance@gmail.com, tel: + 261 324572 686

In Geneva: William Dowell, CARE Emergency Group/Geneva, email: wtdowell@careinternational.org, tel: +41 79 590 3047,

In London: Amber Meikle, email: meikle@careinternational.org, tel: +44 207 934 9348