Famine is once again ravaging the south of the island of Madagascar. Victims of drought, poor governance, predatory businesses but also rural banditry, hundreds of thousands of people are acutely malnourished and in desperate need of food relief. Locals say at least 15 people have starved to death, including several children, but experts believe the real figure could be much higher. The authorities have been caught off guard by the disastrous situation. Gaëlle Borgia reports.

In the drought-ravaged south of Madagascar, people are eating white clay mixed with tamarind to cope with famine. Half of the population in the southern region of the Indian Ocean island -- 1.5 million people -- is currently in need of emergency food aid, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Around 31 million euros ($37.6 million) are urgently needed to feed the hungry.

Three consecutive years of drought and a sharp recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will leave a third of the population in Southern Madagascar struggling to put food on the table. The U.N. World Food Programme says about 1.4 million people in the region will need food aid this year.

It's one of the most overlooked disasters in the world. In Madagascar, 1.5 million people are suffering from a serious food crisis and need emergency assistance. Several dozen people have already died of hunger. An unprecedented drought, which hit the south of the island in recent years and destroyed almost all of the crops, is mostly to blame. As the UN World Food Programme asks for emergency aid of €62.45 million, our correspondent Gaëlle Borgia travelled to Anosy, the region hardest hit by the crisis.

Several years of drought and other factors have left millions in southern Madagascar hungry, with the World Food Programme warning that famine is looming.

Millions of Africans, who have received their first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, have been left in limbo after shots made at the Serum Institute of India were redirected for domestic use.

Summer has not even begun and Lake Oroville, the second-largest reservoir in California that provides drinking water to more than 25 million people, is at less than half of its average capacity at this time of year. "Having the water down at this level here means that we're going to have less water for agriculture, for municipal water use and also for all the environmental needs,” says John Yarbrough, Assistant Deputy Director at the California Department of Water Resources.

Communities in Madagascar are on the verge of starvation, with women and children walking for hours to reach food after the worst drought in four decades devastated the south of the island, the World Food Programme said.

Several have been arrested over an assassination plot against President Andry Rajoelina, Madagascar prosecutors have said.

Madagascan police this week arrested six people, including a foreign national, on suspicion of plotting to kill the president, after months of investigation, officials said on Thursday.

Famine is devastating the south of Madagascar, the first country in the world to experience such conditions due to climate change, according to the UN. The current situation -- brought on by years of persistent drought -- prompted World Food Programme executive director David Beasley, who recently visited the country, to say it was akin to "something you see in a horror movie."

Strong winds are hampering firefighters' efforts. Alerts have been sent to residents warning them to "be ready to follow instructions."