Of tsunamis and climate change - the need to resettle

Weber, Eberhard (2012) Of tsunamis and climate change - the need to resettle. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Next to hunger, poverty, war and violations of human rights the degradation, pollution and destruction of the natural environment as well as natural hazards have become major reasons for people to leave the places where they lived before. Environmentally-induced migration is as difficult to define as environmentally displaced people. Displacement is often the result of many factors, of which the change in environmental quality can be one. Still there is little doubt that destruction and degradation of the environment can become a pressure for individuals or whole groups to go elsewhere. In Samoa and the Solomon Islands people left their villages after they were devastated by tsunamis in 2007 resp. 2009. In both cases they settled just a few kilometers away at higher grounds. In Samoa resettlement started right after the tsunami. It received strong support by the Samoan Government, many NGOs and international organizations. Houses and infrastructure had been in very good shape a few weeks after the tsunami of September 2009.

The people of the island of Ghizo in the Solomon Islands on the other hand were forgotten soon after the event. Today they even fear that government authorities might ask them to move back to the coastal area as the land they now occupy is government land and officially they are seen as squatters.

Item Type:	Other
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Pacific Islands, Tsunami, Climate Change, Resettlement, Samoa, Solomon Islands
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform Q Science > Q Science (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > School of Geography, Earth Science and Environment
Depositing User:	Eberhard Weber
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2014 02:24
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2017 03:15
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/7119

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