Climate Refugees Resettlement

5,500 inhabitants live in a slum subject to flooding due to the increase of extreme weather events caused by climate change in Santo Domingo. The Dominican government is relocating them.

300,000 people live in slums subject to flooding along the polluted Ozama River in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Floods up to 20 feet occur several times a year due to the increase of extreme weather events caused by global warming.

The Dominican government decided to resettle 7,000 people from one of the most precarious areas of Santo Domingo, La Barquita. These residents have been moved into social housing across the bank in La Nueva Barquita. Once settled and after 10 years paying the same rent, these inhabitants will automatically become owners. The Dominican State is also currently expanding its transportation system to give to these families access to the city and to employment.

Activities like cock fights, betting booths and billiard rooms are banned from the New Barquita. Consultations with women living in the Barquita have decided to ban all activities where men were losing their money and abusing alcohol. A few families won’t be relocated because they were not identified during the census that determined which ones would be displaced. Families are settling in apartment blocks in the New Barquita that will protect them from flooding and will also radically change their lives.