Lari lebih jauh ke inland bukan karena takut tsunami, tapi takut
transgressiion.

JCI

Climate changes spur plan for village move
Thu Jun 9, 2005 09:57 AM ET 
By Yereth Rosen 

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - With sea ice shrinking, permafrost thawing and sea
storms becoming more frequent, residents of a remote Eskimo village in
Alaska are preparing to move their entire community to more solid ground
within four years, officials said on Wednesday. 

Located on a narrow Chukchi Sea barrier island, the Inupiat village of
Shishmaref has lost so much ground in recent years that it has become an
internationally famous case study into the effects of global warming. It
is likely to become the first U.S. community to move because of a
warming climate, many scientists have said. 

"The situation facing Shishmaref needs to be categorized as an
emergency," Luci Eningowuk, head of the Shishmaref Erosion and
Relocation Council, told the Coastal Engineering Research Board, an U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers advisory panel. 

Erosion at Shishmaref, an Inupiat island village of 600, is so dramatic
that residents plan to start moving to a new site about 13.5 miles
inland by 2009. 

A quicker move may be necessary if big storms arrive, Eningowuk said.
She asked for help in securing federal funding for possible temporary
village quarters if an emergency move is needed to the selected mainland
site, called Tin Creek. 

>From 2001 to 2003, bluff erosion at Shishmaref has proceeded at a rate
of 13 feet to 22.6 feet per year, said Alan Jeffries, a civil engineer
with the Corps' Alaska district. That compares to an annual estimated
rate of erosion of three to nine feet over the past two decades. 

The loss of sea ice, the thawing earth and the growing incidence of
powerful sea storms have made the island's fine sand vulnerable,
Jeffries said. "There's nothing to hold it in," he said. 

The cost of moving Shishmaref is currently estimated at $150 million to
$180 million, said Bruce Sexauer, a senior planner for the Corps' Alaska
district. 

Consolidation into a larger community is unacceptable and "would have a
devastating impact on how we exist and who we are," Eningowuk said. 

The village has its own distinct culture, including a reputation for
finely crafted Inupiat arts and sled-dog racing, and it has maintained
its food-gathering traditions. 

In all, 184 Alaska villages are in serious danger of erosion or
flooding, according to a government report issued last year. Four,
including Shishmaref and Newtok, already have relocation plans,
according to the report. 

Although the case of Shishmaref is probably the most severe in Alaska,
residents of Newtok, a Yupik Eskimo village of 300, are also planning a
similar move. 

"The springtime is getting earlier each year. In the fall time, it's not
as snowy as it used to be," said Stanley Tom, a liaison for the Newtok
tribal council. 

Buildings are starting to slump in the thawing permafrost, and water
levels are rising, Tom said, "Now the villagers are saying, "Let's move
to the solid land.'" 


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