The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is revising its preliminary emergency appeal from 773,000 Swiss francs (US$ 637,000, € 477,000) to two million Swiss francs (US$ 1.6 million, € 1.2 million) to help the Malagasy Red Cross Society (MRCS) respond to a series of cyclones which devastated the northern parts of the island of Madagascar.

Since the beginning of the year, Madagascar has been hit by five cyclones. "This is the first time that the island experienced so many cyclones in such a short period," explains Niels Scott, the International Federation's Operations Coordinator for Africa. " Cyclone Jaya was the last to hit on April 3. At first sight, it seemed that the consequences were limited. However, when you take a closer look, few damages were reported just because many people had already lost everything when Cyclone Indlala hit Madagascar on March 15. So the lack of damage reported was more an indicator of the impact made by previous cyclones in the repeatedly-affected areas", he adds.

The revised appeal aims to provide 60,000 persons with food and non-food items, to minimize outbreaks of waterborne diseases, promote hygiene and contribute to the restoration of basic living conditions. The International Federation is also sending a logistics emergency response unit in order to help in getting the emergency assistance to the affected people because many roads have been destroyed and some areas are only accessible by boat.

According to the first official assessments, at least 126,000 people have been severely affected by Cyclone Indlala and require immediate assistance. The regions of Sava, Analajirofo, Diana, Sofia and Maroantsetra have been the most severely hit. Some 13,000 houses were completely destroyed, 29 schools and 35 bridges were damaged, over 35,000 hectares of rice paddies and 12,000 hectares of other crops were destroyed.

The succession of cyclones might lead to food security problems in the coming months since the north of Madagascar produces a substantial quantity of rice. At the same time, some 582,000 people have been recently affected by a drought in the south of the island.

The International Federation is co-ordinating its action very closely with the Malagasy Red Cross, the French Red Cross (through its Indian Ocean Rapid Intervention Platform - PIROI) , as well as with government and UN agencies.

For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:

In Nairobi : Omar Valdimarsson, Regional Information Delegate, Tel: + 254 733632946

In Geneva: Jean-Luc Martinage, Media Officer , Tel: + 41 22 730 42 96 / + 41 79 217 33 86

Duty phone Tel: + 41 79 416 38 81

The Federation, Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. www.ifrc.org