'LIVING ON THE EDGE': Climate Change Force Two Thirds Population
Out Of Ghoramara Island In The Sunderbans
Photo Essay By Tanmoy Bhaduri
07 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org
Recently, I visited Ghoramara Island which is losing is terrain by the day to the rising seas as a result of climate change. Two thirds of its population have already moved out of the island. It is located in the Sunderban area in the Bay of Bengal about 150 km south of Kolkata. Not less than half of its landmass has been submerged under water in the last 50 years. I wanted to document how climate change is affecting human beings, particularly on this island. There are only three ferry services in a day. There was no electricity there, and mobile signal was extremely weak even on the shore. I decided to walk through the dam and take photographs of the island and the people in it. People have to cross Muriganga river which is a side stream of Ganges and conects the island to nearest harbour Kakdwip. There are neither any hospitals nor any doctors in Ghoramara island. They have to travel about two hours to reach the Kakdwip hospital to avail medical assistance. I spoke to several people on the island and heard their stories.
Lohachara is a ‘former’ island near Ghoramara. It now lies under the water. People fleeing from villages from both these islands often go to the nearby Sagar Island. Here, there are makeshift accomodations for them built by the state government of West Bengal. Many men migrate from Ghoramara in search of work. According to data collected for elections, there are 3000 people on the island officially.
Even the bigger islands in the neighbourhood are expected to vanish. So will Ghoramara.
The photos are taken on 27th and 28th February, 2016 during my visit to the Island.
Tanmoy Bhaduri (born 1992) is a freelance news and documentary photographer based in Kolkata, completed Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from University of Calcutta. He works with national and international publications such as The Times of India, Getty Images, Corbis Images, Associated Press, Zuma Press. His first documentary Woven Dreams based on Bengal's Heritage Handloom Workers published in 2015. Email: [email protected]