Excerpt from nhk.or.jp
Residents of an island village in the central Philippines face the devastating effects of climate change every day. Their land is sinking, sea levels are rising, and they find themselves under water each time the tide comes in. Despite the danger, most are determined to stay, but they’re calling on the world’s major polluters to take responsibility for the damage they are doing.
Living with water
Seawater seeps into the home of Annie Casquejo every time there’s a high tide. It enters through cracks in the floor created nearly a decade ago when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the province of Bohol, and her island of Batasan. The quake also caused the land to subside, with Batasan sinking by around one meter.
“The water can make our table float,” says Casquejo with frustration in her voice. In the months after the quake, she and her family would sleep on a mattress on the living room floor. That’s no longer possible. Rising tides attributed to climate change mean the flooding is getting worse at an alarming rate.
