The day after touring Antananarivo, CARE Emergency Coordinator Dieter Young and I boarded an Air Madagascar flight for a short trip to Tamatave, the largest city on Madagascar's eastern coast. Once we arrived, we drove an hour north to Mahavelona, or Foulpointe as it is often called. Our first stop was the coast of the Indian Ocean, where the eye of Cyclone Bonita came ashore in January 1996.

Jocelyne Sambinirina sorts rice outside in the doorway of her thatched roof hut in Mahavelona.

It is paradise. The sun is bright, the humidity is low and coconuts and palm trees are everywhere. White sand and white picket fences surround restaurants, attracting tourists and the businesses that cater to them. The pace is slow and the people can easily live off the land by growing their own fruits and vegetables and from catching fish in the nearby ocean.

Throughout the region, Young introduced me to people CARE helped after the devastating storm destroyed much of the area. In 132 communities along Madagascar's most vulnerable eastern coast, CARE has initiated a comprehensive training program to plan for and cope with future cyclones.

A small cluster of homes sit along the Indian Ocean on Madagascar's eastern shore.

CARE trainers will teach residents the importance of building their homes to withstand wind and flood damage, storing emergency food supplies for their families, and establishing an early warning system to notify people of impending storms. The program also will help strengthen each community's capacity to prepare for cyclones as well as to immediately help people in the wake of a storm.

As we traveled throughout the region, one of the most memorable moments came as we drove to the inland village of Ampasimbe Onibe to meet with Mayor Georges Fety. We were driving in a Toyota truck purchased for CARE with funding from the European Union to assist in the relief efforts after Cyclone Bonita. The road to the village was unpaved, rough and windy, yet the terrain along the red dirt road was magnificent.

We drove the same truck to Ampasimbe Onibe that had first brought supplies to the village after Cyclone Bonita hit in 1996.

As we entered the village, children, who do not know a word of English, joyfully screamed "CARE! CARE!" as we drove by their homes. It was almost as if the children had practiced a CARE song at school. Unbeknownst to me, we were driving in the same truck that first entered their village to bring relief supplies after the cyclone. The cheerful shouts were expressions of gratitude. The cries also brought Fety out of the city hall building, one of the rare structures built from cement by the French government decades ago. Smiling widely, he greeted us, taking a break from registering children born in remote villages.

Fety, a young man, is dedicated to protecting the people of his village from natural disasters. It was a real pleasure to meet such a hard-working mayor and for him to allow me to enjoy the beauty of his village.

Continue to Day 7