Newtok moving

Alaska's sinking village Newtok

Newtok (Niugtaq in Central Alaskan Yup'ik) is a village on the Ninglick River in western Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 354. Erosion is forcing the primarily Yupik Alaska Native village to consider relocation. The town was featured in History Channel's Tougher in Alaska, episode "Dangerous Earth". In 2007 the New York Times reported that erosion made Newtok an island between the widening Ninglick River and a slough to the north because Alaskan permafrost is melting due to climate change. According to the Times, because the village is below sea-level and sinking, the town could be washed away within a decade.

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Main Idea

Newtok is encircled by a river which keeps on growing due to climate change and melting permafrost below the village's foundations already made several buildings sink. It was planned to relocate the town to a site called Mertarvik in an interactive series of moving.

However internal struggle and unsufficent funding has lead the project to halt while the residents are facing more and more trouble.

Read More on Guardian.com

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