Description :
This episode of the Radio Pais podcast, produced within the European Rede Tramontana project (co-funded by the European Union), examines the relationship between climate events, collective memory and rural life in Gascony. Beginning with a reference to Hurricane Irma in the French Caribbean, the programme broadens its perspective to explore the natural disasters that have marked the history of Bigorre and the village of Clarac throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Henriette shares her recollections of storms, severe winters, heatwaves and other extreme weather events that affected both the local population and the surrounding landscape. Her testimony highlights how communities adapted to difficult climatic conditions, rebuilt after destruction and preserved memories of exceptional events through oral tradition. These personal recollections also reveal the resilience of rural populations in the face of repeated environmental challenges.
Throughout the conversation, the presenters emphasise the importance of linking individual testimony with collective memory. Henriette’s experiences become part of a wider reflection on humanity’s relationship with nature, showing how oral history preserves not only factual accounts of past disasters but also the emotions, values and community solidarity that emerge in times of adversity.