Hundreds of Caribbean residents forced to leave their homes due to rising sea levels

An aerial view of Carti Sugtupu Island off the coast of Panama. Credit: LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Hundreds of people prepare to leave the tiny Caribbean island as rising water threatens to swallow their homes.

The deserted Karti Sugtupu Island off Panama's north coast is under threat from rising sea ​​level caused by climate change, and suffers from floods occur regularly.

Experts say that by the end of the century, the sea will swallow Karti Sugtupu and dozens of neighboring islands in the Guna Yala region.

Forty-nine islands are inhabited and are only a few feet above sea level.

A Guna man prepares his boat as hundreds of people begin to pack up and leave the island. Photo: LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images

“The fact is that since sea level rise is a direct cause of climate change, almost all islands will be abandoned by the end of this century,” said Stephen Peyton, a scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Residents of Karti Sugtupu are about to move to a settlement built by the government on mainland Panama.

«We noticed the tide was rising,» said Magdalena Martinez, 73. , retired teacher.

«We think we're going to drown, we know we're going to.»

The inhabitants of Karti Sugtupu are soon going to be relocated to new settlements on the mainland. Credit: LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images

The government said it would be ready to relocate families to the settlement, which is a 15-minute boat ride away. According to the government, each family will have 300 square meters (3,200 square feet), including a two-bedroom house, drinking water and electricity.

Experts fear this will jeopardize the culture and lifestyle of the indigenous Karti community Sugtupu, numbering less than 2000 people.

0709 Indigenous group of Panama

Currently, the community lives without drinking water and sanitation.

Residents have to travel by boat for drinking water from rivers or buy it on the mainland.

Reliable electricity few have. Most residents get electricity for several hours a day from a public generator.

A house destroyed by the sea on Karti Sugdupu Island Photo: LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images

No one has their own toilets, and residents have to visit the public cabins at the ends of the piers, where wooden planks over the sea serve as toilets.

«No room for houses to expand or children to play ,» Human Rights Watch said in a recent report.

«Floods and hurricanes have made life even more difficult … affecting housing, water, health and education. Such extreme weather events are expected to become more common as the climate crisis worsens.”