On the occasion of his four-day trip to French Polynesia, President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated, Monday in Manihi (Tuesday in Paris), in the Tuamotu archipelago, the construction of a cyclone shelter: structures that aim to shelter these populations increasingly exposed to cyclones and other hazards linked to global warming.
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"We are talking about your lives, the lives of your children, we are talking about today, not tomorrow", declared the President of the Republic after announcing a program of 50 million euros financed equally by France and French Polynesia, a largely autonomous overseas collectivity.
The Tuamotus are already equipped with 27 shelters, but 8,000 inhabitants are not yet protected and 17 shelters must be built by 2027.
"Our paradise can quickly turn into hell," Mayor John Drollet told the Head of State, referring to "waves of 12 meters in the worst case", on an atoll of 600 inhabitants which rises to five meters .
Global warming increases the frequency and power of cyclones.
