Major donation for Greenland’s displaced tsunami victims

Residents of two Greenlandic settlements obliterated by a tsunami on June 17 will today receive a sizeable donation aimed at helping them re-establish themselves in new homes.

The donation to the people of Nuugaatsiaq and Illorsuit was initiated by KNI, a retailer, and is a mix of money and goods such as dog food, fishing line, knives, sweaters and anoraks amounting to a value of DKK 600,000 ($93,000).

Four people were killed by the tsunami that was released after debris from a landslide fell 1000m into the waters of Karrat Fjord, in north-western Greenland. Scientists estimate the landslide unleashed a wave that reached a height of 100m, the largest ever recorded.

The settlement’s 170 residents were evacuated in the days after. Later, the Danish military retrieved about 100 dogs that had been left behind. 

Today, the residents continue to live in temporary conditions in the town of Uummannaq. Due to the likelihood that more landslides could occur in the same location, Greenland’s Self-Rule Authority has decided not to rebuild the destroyed settlements.

Instead, the Self-Rule Authority has set aside DKK 70 million to rehouse the residents. The Danish state has made a similar pledge of DKK 30 million. 

Today’s donation is third time in recent weeks that residents of the two settlements, have received a major charitable donation. 

On October 24, the Qeqqata local council, where the two settlements are located, set aside DKK 100,000 for the purchase of new freezers for the settlements’ residents once they settle permanently.

On October 6, 13 commercial hunters from Nuugaatsiaq each received two rifles from a charity set up in the weeks after the tsunami. The charity had previously donated VHF radios to residents.

More than DKK 2 million have been donated to various charities to help displaced residents.