Extreme temperatures, accompanied by a prolonged drought, are wreaking havoc in the villages of Romania. The peasants have reached the height of despair and say that soon they will have nothing to eat. Entire villages are condemned, especially since the locals live exclusively from agriculture and animal husbandry.
People are desperately searching for water in the almost dry wells PHOTO Cosmin Zamfirache
The drought wreaked havoc in Romania this summer. According to official data, water supply is provided with restrictions in more than 658 localities. The most affected by the lack of water, according to ANAR, are the counties of Botoșani, Vaslui, Iași and Vrancea. The worst situation is in Botoșani county, where over 154 localities have effectively dried up wells. For the peasants, the extreme temperatures this summer, but especially the drought that followed them, are a real apocalypse. Especially for villagers who live exclusively from agriculture and animal husbandry. In Botoșani, the pole of the drought in Romania, people are at the height of despair, ending up walking at night for water and taking secretly from the only remaining wells in the neighboring communes. Most testify that there will most likely be hundreds of families that will endure hunger this fall. “People will pray for those in the graves to come out, so that they can enter in their place in the pit. That’s how bad it will be”, confesses an 80-year-old villager from Gorbănești commune, Botoșani county.
“It’s all scorched, they’re dead, that’s it”
Botoșani County is the northernmost point of Romania. The last frontier of the European Union. For centuries it was a real granary of Moldova, with fertile lands and unique varieties of wheat. During the communist period, he gained the reputation of “Bărăganul Moldovei”. In fact, the only source of income and food for the people in the villages of Botoșani, lacking jobs, is agriculture and animal husbandry. Entire communities subsist solely on what the land and domestic animals provide. This year’s drought was a real cataclysm for “Bărăganul Moldovai”. Whole villages are effectively engulfed in the most cruel despair. The sun scorched everything, starting from the big moon, pastures, fields, everything. In most villages, wells have completely dried up.
People are desperately searching for water PHOTO Cosmin Zamfirache
“Out of 40 good wells, there are two more. I watch the mud come out of the bucket and cry for an hour. I wake up at night and dream that water has come into the well. My family lives only on the milk that I give to the collection. We die within days if we don’t have something to water the animals with“, says a villager from Blândești commune, one of the most affected by the drought. Another one, Ilie from Gorbăneşti, who came with a cart full of barrels, stops in front of a well in the middle of the field, effectively burnt by the sun. “It has no water“he says desperately. He then looked towards the pastures. He almost bursts into tears. “It’s all scorched, they’re dead, that’s it”.
Like Ilia, there are thousands of other villagers, who panic-stricken cross the communes, from one well to another, hoping to find water. Where I find it, the water is mixed with mud. But they are happy to water the cattle. “It is a disaster that only the elderly caught during the great famine. The pastures are burned, we have nowhere to take the animals. And the corn is dry and dry. What should I give to the animals? There is no water either“, says a villager from Bătrâneşti.
“We ended up stealing our water from each other”
The water situation is so serious that people ended up walking at night, for kilometers, with carts, trying to “steal” water from wells in other municipalities. “He walks through the neighboring villages at night. We have a few wells that still have some water. We ended up stealing water from each other. Others defend them with bets. The war of survival will come out“, says the same local from Bătrânești. The fact that the water from the wells is not potable is also serious. People have to buy from shops to quench their thirst. “You can’t drink that. How to give birth to a child. Let’s go to animals. Although in dairy cows it is dangerous. We go and buy from the store. We eat less to quench our thirst“, says Ilinca, a local woman of about 30 years from Gorbănești.
The older ones, and with small CAP pensions, risk everything. “I am old. I drink from the well. Whatever happens, I lived my life, I ate my bread. I don’t have money to keep going to the store. I barely have enough medicine”confesses an elderly man from Blândești. At night, they become true “commandos” of thirst. With scouts looking for wells, followed by lines of wagons coming quickly to load barrels from wells and wells.
Crops destroyed, families condemned to starvation
Lack of water and heat also destroyed crops. A social drama for villagers from all affected areas of Romania. With the cereals they fed their animals, with other technical plants they fed. Now they have neither for themselves nor for the animals. “There is not even chicken pox anymore”, says a local woman from Ungureni. The corn was burned, and so were the sunflowers. The potatoes didn’t come out. Mihai is 26 years old. He lives only by raising cows. He and his family. Mihai is desperately looking for water. There is almost no food for the animals, and the harvest has been effectively destroyed. “This year’s harvest is destroyed. It is 25% from last year’s harvest. Catastrophe. I take the cow’s milk to the collection. I live from the star. If I end up buying feed, I’m left with nothing. And there are many like me.“, says Mihai.
There are apocalyptic landscapes in Botoșani county PHOTO Cosmin Zamfirache
Ghita from Bătrâneşti brings his horse from the image. He had nothing to graze on. The animal is thirsty. Instead of leaving him in the sun, he brings him into the stable. Ghita confesses scared that there will be people who will actually endure hunger this fall. “There are embittered families who lived only from what they gave the yard and the garden. And nothing came of them. When you have a large area, it’s a different matter. You always come up with something. But when you bite and nothing comes out, you’re hungry. There are families with many children, poor people who will go out to beg. Of despair. Hungry. Guaranteed.“, says the villager.
