THE "HUNGER STONES" ALERT ON THE DANGERS

OF DROUGHT

With the drop in water levels in Europe, lakes, streams and streams give way to sometimes unprecedented landscapes... or warnings. "If you see me, then cry ! Here is the inscription that can be read on a "hunger stone" which resurfaced this summer on the banks of the Elbe, in the town of Děčín (Czech Republic).

A singular echo to the current worsening of the climate crisis.

By ritual, the inhabitants of the edge of this river register the date, as well as their initials, each time the water gives way to these witnesses of history. According to Der Spiegel, that of Decin dates from 1616.

This message, moreover, is not the only one left on a "hunger stone" in the sector. Like an open book, you could read 10 dates ranging from 1417 to 1893.

"Before 1900, the following droughts are commemorated on the stone :

1417, 1616, 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892 and 1893”, specifies a study carried out by Czech researchers in 2013.

Like markers of the hydraulic level of the river, these stones retrace moments of suffering, bad harvests, when the risk of famine was intense along this river in eastern Europe, which also crosses Germany before flow into the North Sea near Hamburg.

Markers of the past anticipating the future ?

For Andrea Toreti, researcher at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission "Our analysis indeed indicates that extremely low flows affect almost all European rivers".

A symbol of extreme drought, these "hunger stones" have also been found on the banks of the Rhine, the Moselle and the German river Weser. "This drought could be the worst in 500 years," he continues.

A phenomenon destined to repeat itself in Europe.

This year, almost half of the territory of the European Union had been exposed to worrying levels of drought in July, and 11% to higher alert levels, according to a study by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and based on the work of the European Drought Observatory (OED).