Mascarene Islands

Group of islands in the Indian Ocean

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March 2025 Cyclone Garance struck Réunion, causing extensive damage with winds up to 230 km/h. The cyclone killed at least four people, left over 160,000 without power, and caused flash floods, mudslides, and structural damage. French Prime Minister François Bayrou urged caution during the crisis.
2025 Le Malin coast guard vessel is scheduled to be replaced by Auguste Techer, a new Félix Éboué class patrol vessel.
2025 French naval aviation planned to replace the Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopter with an AS 365N Dauphin helicopter.
2024 One of the three local daily newspapers closed
July 31 2024 Journal de l'île de La Réunion was placed into bankruptcy (judicial liquidation)
2023 Unemployment reached its lowest level in 45 years at 19.0%.
July 2 2023 Most recent eruption of Piton de la Fournaise volcano, continuing its pattern of frequent volcanic activity.
2022 French Air Force demonstrated regional military capability by deploying two Rafale fighter aircraft to Réunion, supported by an A330 MRTT Phénix tanker from France for a regional exercise.
January 30 2022 The warmest day on record was set, beating the previous record from 2021. At the cold pole of La Réunion (Gite de Bellecombe), a maximum temperature was recorded that exceeded the previous year's record.
2021 A temperature record was set at Gite de Bellecombe, which was later surpassed in the following year.
2020 Réunion was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing a massive recession of -4.2%, the largest on record.
July 29 2020 Chantal Manès-Bonnisseau was appointed Rector of the Académie de La Réunion and Chancellor of Universities during the Council of Ministers.
July 16 2020 Vêlayoudom Marimoutou took office as secretary general of the Indian Ocean Commission.
2019 Écran jeunes holds its 25th edition, and the Festival du Film Court de Saint-Pierre has its 3rd edition, directed by Armand Dauphin.
2019 A light rail system was proposed to connect Le Barachois with Roland Garros Airport, aiming to improve transportation infrastructure on the island of Réunion.
2019 The economy recovered slightly, growing to 2.2%, with the GDP estimated at 19.5 billion euros.
2019 Census showed 100,493 Metropolitan Frenchmen living in Réunion, and 130,662 natives of Réunion living in Metropolitan France (representing 15.7% of Réunion's native population)
2018 The Réunionese economy slowed down, growing at only 1.7%, partly due to the yellow vests protests that paralyzed economic activity.
2017 A Queen bee was smuggled into the island, bringing Varroa destructor mites, which spread rapidly across Réunion within 4.5 months and dramatically increased annual bee colony deaths from 0.6% to 64%.
2014 The 10th and final edition of the Réunion Film Festival takes place, in partnership with TEAT Champ Fleuri in Saint-Denis and the city of Saint-Paul.
2014 Economic growth returned to Réunion, with the economy growing by an average of 2.9% per year in real terms until 2017.
2013 Réunion achieved 35% of its electricity production from renewable energy sources, despite having an overall energy dependency rate exceeding 85%.
2013 One of the daily newspapers transitioned to online-only publication
July 2013 Prefect Michel Lalande announced a ban on swimming, surfing, and bodyboarding off more than half of La Réunion's coast, and initiated a culling program of 45 bull sharks and 45 tiger sharks in response to shark attacks.
2012 Baccalaureate results were 81.4%, slightly below the national average of 84.5%.
2012 At the start of the school year, Réunion Island had 522 pre-school or primary schools (including 26 private schools), 82 secondary schools (including six private schools), 32 general and technological high schools (including three private schools), and 15 vocational schools (including two private schools).
2011 The European Court of Human Rights dismissed lawsuits related to the Children of Creuse relocation program.
2010 Start of a period of documented shark attacks in La Réunion's waters, with 23 attacks occurring between 2010 and 2017, of which nine were fatal.
2010 The Festival Même pas peur begins in Saint-Philippe, establishing Réunion's international fantasy film festival.
2010 Réunion continued to experience economic recession for the second consecutive year.
2010 La Réunion becomes home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering approximately 40% of the island's area and coinciding with the central zone of the La Réunion National Park.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Réunion, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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