--- title: "Residents Flee Island as It Sinks Into the Ocean" description: "The indigenous residents of a tiny island off the coast of Panama are being forced to flee as rising waters threaten to engulf their homes." date: "2023-09-07" modified: "2023-09-07" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/residents-flee-sinking-island" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "flooding" - "indigenous" - "island" - "the digest" --- # Residents Flee Island as It Sinks Into the Ocean ![The indigenous residents of a tiny island off the coast of Panama are being forced to flee as rising waters threaten to engulf their homes.]() *Wild sea with stormy clouds on the background \Image: Flavio Coelho via Getty Images\* ## Sink or Swim The indigenous residents of a tiny island off the coast of Panama are being forced to flee as rising waters threaten to engulf their homes. "We think we're going to sink," retired teacher Magdalena Martinez, a resident of the island Carti Sugtupu — sometimes stylized as "Gardi Sugdub" — told *[Agence France-Presse]().* "We know it's going to happen." Martinez and most of the tiny island's other inhabitants, of which there are fewer than 2,000, are members of the Guna tribe. She and hundreds of other residents are planning to move soon to a new settlement built by the government on Panama's mainland as rising waters in the Guna Yala island region make the tiny landmasses inhabitable. To be fair, life was never easy on Gardi Sugdub, which is roughly the size of five football fields and where, on the island's north side, [houses are crammed]() so closely together that there's barely an inch between them. There's no potable water or sanitation on the island, *AFP* notes, and its main industries are fishing, cassava and plantain farming, the production of [gorgeous "mola" textiles](), and a [bit of tourism](). "There is no room," a recent [Human Rights Watch report]() on the island notes, "to expand homes or for children to play." ## Rising Tide To make matters worse, as the report notes, rising sea levels are taking the already low-slung islands — which were barely above sea level to begin with — basically underwater. "We have noticed that the tide has risen," the 73-year-old Martinez said matter-of-factly. "Floods and storms have made life even harder... affecting housing, water, health and education," the HRW report continues. "Such extreme weather is only expected to become more common as the climate crisis accelerates." The sinking of one's island home is, as one might imagine, devastating, but in her interview with the *AFP*, Martinez exhibited an amazing resiliency. "This will change our lifestyle quite a bit," the elderly Guna woman said. Nevertheless, "it won't change our spirit, it won't change our habits." **More on ocean occurrences:** [*Scientists Find Strange Golden Object at Bottom of Pacific Ocean*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()