Families Flee Caribbean Island as Tiny Community Gets Swallowed by the Ocean
People living on a tiny Caribbean island are preparing to leave their homes behind as experts believe that this island and many others around it will be engulfed by the ocean before the end of the century.
Carti Sugtupu is a densely-populated island off the north coast of Panama that has an Indigenous community of under 2,000 people.
But their way of life is being threatened by climate change, as climate experts predict that Carti Sugtupu and several neighboring islands in the Guna Yala region will be taken over by water in the coming decades.
"The fact is that with sea levels rising as a direct cause of climate change, almost all the islands are going to be abandoned by the end of this century," explained Steven Paton, a scientist at the Panama-based Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Locals have taken notice of the effects, as storms and flooding have made it difficult to survive on the small islands.
"We have noticed that the tide has risen," retired teacher Magdalena Martinez told. "We think we're going to sink, [and] we know it's going to happen."
Martinez and many others are planning to leave Carti Sugtupu behind and move to a settlement on mainland Panama that was built by the government. It was announced that families will be able to move to there by the end of this year or early 2024.
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