PEOPLE HERE
HAVE ADAPTED—
EVEN THOUGH
THEIR LIVES AND
PROPERTIES ARE
THREATENED BY
THE RISING SEA.”
—Aji Styawan,
photographer
Sali and Yosep
watch television while
keeping their feet off
the flooded floor of
their rented home in
Demak Regency, on the
north coast of Central
Java, Indonesia. High
tides routinely flood
homes in the sprawling
municipality, which has
lost more than 7,500
acres since 2013 to sub-
sidence and rising seas.
The two construction
workers were shocked
by the flooding when
they moved here from
West Java in 2018—but
they’ve gotten used
to it. By 2050, land
that now is home to
23 million people
in Indonesia will be
flooded annually, a
2019 study estimated.APR. 2 2 LIVING WITH THE TIDE AT YOUR FEET
64