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A man looks to be standing on the water, some 50 metres out from the shore

‘Our house was gone, it was sea and sand’: life on the vanishing coasts – in pictures

This article is more than 4 years old

Coastal communities in Mexico, Bangladesh and Somalia are struggling to adapt to the climate crisis. Many people have already lost livelihoods and homes to rising waters

A man stands on what used to be a breakwater in Sánchez Magallanes, Tabasco state, on the Gulf of Mexico. Locals say it used to extend 50 metres further out to sea. Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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Wed 29 Dec 2021 13.15 CETLast modified on Wed 19 Oct 2022 17.37 CEST
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A woman looks out to sea from the concrete frame of her home

Mexico

Alicia stands in what is left of her home in Sánchez Magallanes, in Mexico’s southern state of Tabasco, on a strip of sand between the ocean and lagoons. Erosion destroyed the foundations of part of the house, leaving only two rooms and the kitchen habitable. After a storm six years ago, Alicia says: “There was sand up to the entrance. We passed the corridor and we simply saw the sea, nothing but the sea. Our house was gone, it was sea and sand. My husband hugged me and I just cried.”Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A man tries to shore up the foundations of his house. Tyres filled with sand act as a crude barrier
Alicia’s husband, Juan, shores up the foundations of their house with sand every day in an effort to prevent it being further eroded by the sea. A week after this photo was taken, another part collapsed. More than 90% of the state is low-lying floodplain, crisscrossed with rivers – 30% of the country’s freshwater flows through the state. Heavy rains cause the rivers to burst their banks. The region is also subject to hurricanes.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A small boy plays at the back of a ruined house watched by his father, Roque. A toilet can be seen where a breezeblock wall has come down
Roque’s son Alex plays in the back of their house in Sánchez Magallanes. The collapse left the family living in two small rooms. “At night when the north wind comes, I can’t sleep. I’m afraid the house will fall while we’re asleep,” Roque says.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A man looks to be standing on the water, some 50 metres out from the shore
A man stands on what used to be a breakwater in Sánchez Magallanes. Locals say it used to extend 50 metres farther out to sea.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A new road can be seen carved out of the jungle with a parallel line of breakers only 50 metres away
A new road from Sánchez Magallanes to the nearby town of Paraíso has recently been built, parallel to an older road that is being eaten away by the sea. Locals believe it is only a matter of time before erosion claims this road too.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A man stands among rows of coconut trees
Pedro, a coconut cutter in Sánchez Magallanes, takes a break. “Before, there were more coconut plantations; now they no longer exist. Those lands are under the sea. There was a lot of coconut palm and more work,” he says.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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Aerial shot of shack with tin roof amid trees by a muddy river
Janet del Carmen and her daughter, from the community of José María Morelos Santa Rita in Tabasco, sit by the river looking at where their backyard once was. “I know that in five to 10 years this house will not exist anymore, but I have no place to go,” she says.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A cow wades across a flooded pasture
A cow crosses flooded pasture near Sánchez Magallanes. Hundreds of cattle and other livestock die either from drowning or lack of grazing due to river flooding. Others are stolen from their owners.Photograph: César Rodríguez/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A view of 20 or 30 houses on a low-lying sandy plain by the coast

Somalia

Bandarbeyla, a small town in north-east Somalia, is one of many settlements along the country’s coast to feel the effects of the climate crisis.Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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Shacks on a beach
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed hundreds of Somalis and destroyed more than 300 homes. Even 17 years later, some families are still living in makeshift shelters because they cannot afford to rebuild permanent homes.Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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An extended family poses by a single-storey concrete building with shelters made from tarpaulins extending from the back
The tsunami also devastated livelihoods: boats were destroyed, leaving people unable to fish, one of the main sources of income in the region. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), a lack of legislation on climate change and effective policies on land use, disaster risk management and fisheries “allows unsustainable and high-risk practices, such as construction in areas prone to coastal erosion, to continue unchecked”.Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A fisherman repairs his nets.
A fisherman repairs his nets. “Climate change has altered wind patterns, a situation that has really affected fishing,” says the Bandarbeyla area mayor, Rashid Yuusuf.Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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The town also suffers from a lack of proper infrastructure, which means residents struggle to find clean water
Bandarbeyla also suffers from a lack of proper infrastructure, which means residents struggle to find clean water.Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A stone arch stands alone, all that remains of a building amid a sandy landscape dotted with shrubs
In Bulhar, further north along Somalia’s coast, rising temperatures have pushed people inland in search of cooler climes. Temperatures often exceed 40C (104F) during the day. “At the moment, there are only 500 people here,” says Zakaria Hassan Musa, deputy mayor of Bulhar district. The town once had a population of about 2,000.Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A fisherman sits on a tree trunk on a beach surrounded by fishing nets
Gurrey Mohammed is one of many Somalis struggling to make a living from fishing as they once did. They claim high sea temperatures are making fish move into deeper water. Photograph: Luvai Gohar/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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Men sit on top of a two-metre high mud dyke, topped by sandbags, as waves crash below

Bangladesh

In Pratapnagar village, in Satkhira district near the Sundarbans, this mud dyke is repeatedly destroyed by the battering of the tide.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A woman stands by a low hut with a roof of palm fronds pointing out across an expanse of water
In nearby Katmarchar village, Sushila Rani Baulia points to where her paddy and vegetable fields used to be. Most of her food for the year was produced there, but flooding from Super-cyclone Amphan last year destroyed her land. Now the family has to earn a living as day labourers.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A man stands up to his waist in floodwater by a house made of sheets of corrugated iron.
In Kurikahunia village in Satkhira, Farooq Hossain Gazi used his life savings to build this house, after losing a previous home to the winds, storms and tides. But his house is sinking and he will have to abandon this one too.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A man squats on a flat-bottomed boat pulled up at a shack that is only centimetres above the water level. A woman stands ankle-deep in the water as a child stares at the camera.
Ismail Hossain and his family live in a shack by the river in Kurikahunia, with this boat as their only means of transport. The area, which is frequently flooded by high tides, was devastated by Cyclone Amphan.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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Two lines of men work to shore up a wall of mud with mangroves in the background
Without a strong dyke to protect Harishkhali in Satkhira district, villagers have to keep rebuilding a ring dam after each disaster to protect their community from encroaching tides.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A woman stands in muddy water with a bucket at a handpump
Ratna Mandal collects drinking water from a tube well in Gantirgheri village near Khulna. Cyclone Yaas, which hit the Bay of Bengal in May this year, submerged most of the tube wells in the village. This is one of only a few left functioning. However, when the tide comes in, this is submerged too.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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A man squats on a bank of sandbags looking out over a flooded plain. People in a small boat head towards a half-submerged house is in the background.
The strong currents whipped up by Cyclone Yaas swept away the dyke meant to protect Gantirgheri. Three months later, it has still not been repaired. People are worried about the future, as the village is slowly being washed away by the tides.Photograph: Rafiqul Islam Montu/Norwegian Red Cross/IFRC
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