Last week, when my husband was camping in northwest Greenland, a failed helicopter resupply left him without a few days’ worth of meat. That might seem annoying, but what about being left without a resupply for two months? That’s what happened to the almost 700 residents of Qaanaaq – one of the world’s most northerly settlements.
Qaanaaq sits on the northwest coast, over 77 degrees north, hemmed in by sea ice for about ten months of the year. Only in the summer months can it be reached by sea and, given the very short summer this far north, the Royal Arctic supply ship reaches Qaanaaq only twice– once in July and once in September. So by July, people are more than ready for that ship to arrive.
The orders for the one supermarket in Qaanaaq are managed from Upernavik, a settlement more than 600 km farther south down the coast. But one year, when making the summer order, the Upernavik manager forgot to order for Qaanaaq. So when the ship arrived in July, there was no food. The only thing left in the frozen food section of the supermarket was chicken. People didn’t starve, but they sure got sick of eating chicken and rice every day for two months.
