英イングランド東部で進む海岸浸食、家を失う住民たち

【ヘムスビーＡＦＰ＝時事】潜水艦の電気技師だったケビン・ジョーダンさん（７１）は、英イングランド東部ノーフォーク州の海岸沿いの自宅で、波の音を聞きながら老後の生活を送ろうと考えていた。（写真は、高潮で海に引き込まれた住宅。英イングランド東部ヘムスビーで）
　しかし、昨年１１月にその夢は崩れ去った。海岸浸食を理由に、自宅は取り壊された。
　ジョーダンさんは現在、環境団体「地球の友」が起こした訴訟に参加している。この訴訟では、政府が気候変動の予見可能な影響から人々を保護するための十分な対策を講じていないと訴えている。
　ジョーダンさんの家はグレートヤーマスの北方約１３キロにある海辺のリゾート、ヘムスビービーチを見下ろす、砂と粘土でできたもろい崖の上に立っていた。周りには数十軒の家があった。
　数か月前までは、ジョーダンさんの家の玄関まで道が通っていた。しかし、今ではアスファルトの道は跡形もなく消え、立ち入り禁止の柵が設置されている。
「昨年１１月に嵐があった。夕方から一晩かけて嵐があれほど激しくなったのには本当に驚いた」とジョーダンさんは語った。
　嵐の翌日、住民たちは道路の一部が流され、海岸線が近づき、ジョーダンさんの家が危うい状態にあるのを目の当たりにした。
　ジョーダンさんは１５年前にパートナーに先立たれると、北海を見下ろすこの家を購入。浸食の危険性をよく認識していたが、当時、専門家は少なくとも１００年間は心配する必要はないと語っていた。
　嵐の後、ジョーダンさんと４人の近隣住民は、１週間以内に家を取り壊すため立ち退くように、との通知を受け取った。
　補償は一切なく、体調が優れないジョーダンさんにとっての唯一の解決策は、数キロ離れた公営住宅に移ることだった。その窓からは、コンクリートの建物しか見えない。
　２月にノーフォーク議会に提出された報告書によると、１５０キロを超えるノーフォークの海岸線は、欧州北西部で浸食の影響を最も受けている場所の一つだという。
　報告書は、今世紀末までに海面が１．１５メートル上昇すると予測しており、何も対策を講じなければ２１０５年までに１０００軒近くの住宅や店舗が消滅するとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/19-20:24）

Kevin Jordan thought he would spend his retirement listening to the sound of the sea at his home on the Norfolk coast in eastern England.
But his dream collapsed in November last year and he lost everything overnight when the house was demolished due to coastal erosion.
Now the former engineer is part of a landmark legal case brought by climate activist group Friends of the Earth, accusing the government of not doing enough to protect people from the foreseeable effects of climate change.
Perched on a fragile cliff of sand and clay, Jordan's house was like dozens of others overlooking the seaside resort of Hemsby Beach, around eight miles (13 kilometres) north of Great Yarmouth.
Until a few months ago, a road led to his front door.
But the tarmac now disappears into thin air and an orange barrier prevents anyone from trying to go further.
Last November there was a storm... it really caught us by surprise how it became so fierce during the evening through the night, Jordan, 71, told AFP.
The next day, residents found part of the road washed away, and the coastline had crept closer, leaving Jordan's house teetering on the edge.
- Lashed by storms -
According to a report submitted to the Norfolk council in February, the local coastline, which stretches over 150 kilometres, is one of the worst places affected by erosion in northwest Europe.
It predicted a rise in sea levels of 1.15 metres (3.8 feet) by the end of the century, and if nothing is done nearly 1,000 homes and businesses will have disappeared by 2105.
Jordan, an electrician specialising in submarines, bought the house overlooking the North Sea after losing his partner 15 years ago.
He was well aware of the risk of erosion but experts at the time said he would not have to worry about that for at least 100 years.
After the storm, Jordan and four neighbours received a letter telling them to move, because their homes would be demolished within a week.
No compensation was offered and the only solution was for Jordan, who is in poor health, to move to social housing a few kilometres away.
From his window, he can now see only concrete buildings.
Here before that was just sea, I didn't have any curtains, I could see passing ships at night with their lights... it was fabulous, he said.
In 2020, the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership estimated that 28 percent of the coastline in England and Wales was retreating by at least 10 centimetres (four inches) a year due to erosion.
The problem is accelerating because of global warming, as higher temperatures mean a rise in sea levels and an increase in storms both in winter and the summer months.
- 'Ghost town' -
Tourists triple Hemsby's population of about 4,000 in the summer, but locals say their fate is not a priority for the local authorities.
Why are they not looking after us? said Lorna Bevan, owner of The Lacon Arms pub. People say, 'It's just something you should have thought (about)'.
But there's no way anybody could have anticipated these losses 15, even 10 years ago.
The pub has become the headquarters of the Save Hemsby Coastline group and displays a map from 1977 with about 100 houses already crossed out.
Bevan and a tight-knit group of locals are fighting to change the way in which the government allocates funding to build sea defences.
Hemsby is not entitled to any money because the overall value of its businesses and houses does not meet the threshold.
Jordan will be at the High Court in London on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Friends of the Earth arguing that the UK's climate adaptation plan does not go far enough to protect people affected.
He says the court action is for Hemsby and other places like it.
The minute you don't have the beach resorts and shops anymore, everything will be dead. Hemsby will become a ghost town, he said.