2024-09-17 20:25:52
There are places in the world where, for climatic, geographical or cultural reasons, it is forbidden to die. One of them is Svalbard, the small town where birth is also prohibited. Pregnant women, the elderly and the terminally ill know that the time will come when they have to move.
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A law passed more than half a century ago in Svalbard prohibits residents from dying in the village. The small Norwegian town is just a few kilometres from the North Pole and the ground conditions are so low that corpses cannot be buried without spreading viruses and causing diseases.
Where is the town where it is forbidden to die?
Svalbard is an archipelago of more than 10 islands, of which only three are inhabited: Bear Island, Hopen and Spitsbergen. Temperatures in the archipelago can reach 46 degrees below zero, so the ground is constantly frozen. The land formed by amalgamated rocks and sediments is called permafrost, and has been in this state for years.
The town where birth and death are forbidden is located in Norway, 700 kilometres north of the mainland and 650 kilometres east of Greenland. Its spectacular northern lights are one of the main tourist attractions that support the local economy.
The dangers of Svalbard
Svalbard is said to have as many inhabitants – 3,000 – as there are polar bears. Although specialized sites assure that a guide is not needed to provide protection from these animals to visitors, they do warn of another danger: rabies. This is one of the main dangers of the town, since both living and dead animals can contain the virus and infect people.
In the late 1990s, a community exhumation of people who had died during a pandemic was carried out. Researchers found that the virus that had caused the deaths was still active. Although the potential for contagion was still present, the phenomenon made it possible to develop a vaccine against the disease.
But since death is not predictable, what happens if someone dies in Svalbard? The local government has a mechanism in place whereby the dead person is transported to the mainland, either for burial or cremation.