Displaced on Java - A village battling rising sea levels

In 2014, the first flood caught the sleeping residents of the Javanese village off guard. Since then, rising sea tides have kept engulfing the village. The water is still rising — up to 15 centimeters in a year.

So far, the residents of the village of Timbulsloko in Java have been able to keep pace with the rising sea levels by building their homes on higher ground. How long can that go on for? Where once roads and vast rice fields stood, there's now nothing but water. The ocean has carved deep into the land, washing away everything in its path: Homes, gardens, mangrove forests. For generations, people here lived mainly from rice farming. Now they fish, and are experimenting with aquaculture. At high tide, the water in some homes comes up to your knees. The villagers have moved their beds and built walkways to make it possible for them to stay. The ocean is even claiming the cemetery as it moves in on the isolated village, eroding it piece by piece.

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