The Biden administration is giving $75 million to three tribal communities in Alaska and Washington to help them relocate to higher ground because of the effects of climate change.
The Quinault Indian Nation is located on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, the Newtok Village is in Alaska and the Native Village of Napakiak is in Alaska.
FEMA is giving over 17 million dollars to help these three communities buy, demolish and build new infrastructure.
Climate change is posing a serious risk to the homes of many communities in the United States. The tribes are well into the expensive process of moving away from their families. Funding has been a problem.
Over half of the tribe's members reside in the villages. It's critical to get them up on the hill.
The funds will be used to move the most critical buildings. Quinault wants to build new homes and a school.
Funding helps in this massive endeavor.
He said that the community began their process more than a decade ago.
I got the message out that this is a need when I joined the council and worked with our lobbyist and other people. He said that they were at ground zero of the climate change discussion.
The tribe is vulnerable to a lot of things. The village is located along the Cascadia subduction zone and is at particular risk of an earthquake. The fault line is hundreds of miles off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
A typhoon knocked out 40 feet of land between the village and the river.
According to the Interior Department, the village is suffering from serious coastal erosion from storms.
The school, fuel farm, water supply well, airport, homes and other critical infrastructure are at risk due to the serious erosion that is occurring in the area.
It is estimated that the erosion is 50 feet a year. The Interior Department said in a news release that most of the current critical infrastructure is expected to be destroyed in the next two decades.
A plan for managing relocation has been established by the village. In the next 10 years,Napakiak will have to build a new school, move 38 homes, and build a multi-purpose building.
The Interior Department said eight additional communities will get $5 million.
Those are included.
Many of these communities' ties to tradition are upended by going through such a change. The Quinault have lived by the water for hundreds of years in order to catch clams.
We've lived off the land and resources for a long time. The changes can be seen by us. The tides that are coming in are not normal. We have to save ourselves from taking ourselves away from that. It's the key to our own survival at the moment.
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