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A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Peter Kotecki. Ghoramara Island, located in eastern India, is gradually disappearing due to rising sea levels. The island is only about 1. Most residents have left, but some say they can't afford to resettle.
These images show what life is like on the island now. The Sundarbans Reserve Forest is the world's largest contiguous group of mangroves. The British began cutting timber in the Sundarbans about years ago, and the area's mangrove population has been shrinking ever since. Our government, the people themselves, we are all together killing it. After 50 years, will they exist?
Even if the world limits global warming to 1. Though natural forces contribute to the islands' changing shapes and sizes, scientists say human-caused climate change is worsening these effects. On Ghoramara Island, high tides are swallowing land from all sides, forcing residents to move inland and rebuild their homes.
We are simply losing the battle. Saha told Firstpost that his teen daughter, Rabiya, dropped out of school once there were no more teachers left nearby.
The size of Ghoramara is 1. Above: Villagers on Ghoramara Island, India. According to the United Nations, Ghoramara Island has lost over 75 percent of its territory to rising sea levels. Villagers will soon have to leave for good. While some hope that the government will soon give rehabilitation, others anticipate a tsunami or a big cyclone in the offing. The story of Ghoramara shows how climate change is changing the way people live — how it divides families, breaks social taboos and hastens forced migration.
The largely poor people in the island 45 percent live below the poverty line are under enormous socioeconomic stress that has upturned their lives. Sagar Island above and Ghoramara Island below were attached in the early 20th century. By the middle of the century, older people say they could swim across from Ghoramara to Sagar during low tide in a few minutes.
Today it takes about 40 minutes to reach Sagar Island from Ghoramara. The gap between the islands has increased mainly due to the rapid erosion in Ghoramara. Ghoramara Island, about 30 km north of the Bay of Bengal, has seen unprecedented erosion in last few decades. From 26 square km, it has shrunk to around 6. The erosion has been rapid over the past four decades with about half of the land lost to the Ganga during this period.
The population, once around 40,, is now merely 5,, according at the census. Lohachara, a neighbouring island, has totally vanished. The Khasimara area of Ghoramara is fast disappearing. Above Kumed Mondal in his 80s and Madhuri Mondal in her mids , lead a lonely life in a mud house in Ghoramara.
Their sons left long ago in search of greener and safer pastures and their daughters are married. This is the story of most families in Ghoramara,with elderly people or women staying behind to look after the vanishing property and hoping for some compensation from the government. Nilmani Parua lives alone in his two-roomed hut.
Parua would have been a sought-after groom anywhere in West Bengal, but not in Ghoramara. Climate change has wrought a curious social upheaval.
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