Discovery News
At least 1,000
residents of Papua New Guinea's Duke of York Atoll are being moved
to higher ground as their island homes sink into the Pacific Ocean.
Nearly 40,000 more people who live on the 13 sinking coral islands
will also eventually need to be relocated.
The island
group sits on top of shifting tectonic plates, which have triggered
numerous powerful quakes, volcanic explosions and tsunamis. The
area was jolted earlier this month by a magnitude 6.8 temblor
followed by a deadly tsunami. Six years earlier, the coastal city
of Rabaul on New Britain Island was engulfed in ash following
a volcanic eruption.
The atoll,
which is only 13 feet above sea level, is sinking at a rate of
12 inches a year. It is located in the St. Georges Channel, which
connects the Bismark Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Residents of the
Duke of York Island, the biggest in the group, will be the first
to be evacuated.
Evacuees will
be moved to the neighboring island of New Britain.
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