Madagascar's Ivan the Terrible

Jonny Hogg
BBC News, Antananarivo

Soso was trapped in her home all night during the cyclone

Sixteen-year-old Soso Ranzafintratiba uses a piece of bamboo as a crutch. Her knee is badly injured.

"I was returning from school when the cyclone came," she says.

"I tried to run because I was afraid, but I fell and hurt my leg. When I got home, the wind was so strong that the house collapsed. I was trapped there all night."

Soso is just one of an estimated 322,000 people affected by Cyclone Ivan, which slammed into the east coast of Madagascar on the 17 February, with winds of 230km/h (142mph).

Now I have no hope Amadine Mamena, cyclone survivor

It was of a similar intensity to Hurricane Katrina, which brought havoc to New Orleans in 2005.

So far more than 80 have died, more than 170 are missing and at least 187,000 are homeless and the government has asked for $30m in international aid.

Soso lives in the village of Ambodihazinina, on the east coast, which bore the brunt of the storm.

The journey there revealed the scale of the destruction.

Fallen trees litter the road, wooden houses have been flattened or teeter on the brink of collapse.

Madagascar's east coast was devastated by Cyclone Ivan

Madagascar is used to tropical storms. It sits on a type of cyclone alley running through the Indian Ocean – but Cyclone Ivan was particularly cruel.

"Devastation, kilometres of devastation," observed Bruno Maes from Unicef.

"I was here for the last cyclone season but I have never seen anything like this."

Although Ambodihazinina was almost completely flattened, within days some of the houses had been resurrected.

But Amadine Mamena cannot afford to do this.

"I don’t know how I will rebuild my house because we have no money. All our savings were in our crops, but they've been destroyed. Now I have no hope," she told me.

More than two weeks after the cyclone made land, the district to the north of Ambodihazinina is still cut off.

An aid operation is underway and Bruno Maes is hoping that Unicef and other agencies can move swiftly.

"We hope to fly emergency medical supplies by helicopter to the inaccessible areas."

Rebuilding

The rolling green hills and lush valleys ring to the sound of hammering as reconstruction continues apace.

But everyone seems to have one major concern - there is nothing to eat.

Across the island, 41,000 hectares of rice fields and 134,000 hectares of other crops have been destroyed.

"Before the cyclone, my rice was just ripening. Now it has all gone," says subsistence farmer Justin Tombo.

"I can try to rebuild my home but my crops have gone."

Devastation to rice crops may cause long term food shortages

Didier Young of Care International says many people have lost their roofs.

"When you lose your roof you lose everything, including your food stocks," he says.

"The next harvest was supposed to be in May, but for many it will bring nothing."

Health workers say malnutrition, is on the rise, particularly amongst children.

With more tropical storms forecast in the coming weeks, there is a serious risk of a lingering humanitarian crisis after the blistering assault of Cyclone Ivan.