Nearly 1 in 5 Dutch citizens (19%) plan to watch tonight’s partial solar eclipse without any eye protection, completely defying urgent safety warnings from medical professionals, the AD reports. As the Moon takes a massive bite out of the Sun over the Netherlands tonight, a severe nationwide shortage of certified viewing equipment has pushed hundreds of thousands of people into risking permanent eye damage.

The primary driver is a severe lack of availability. Long lines formed outside observatories and retail stores like ANWB, Kamera Express, and local libraries, leaving thousands empty-handed.

In the days leading up to the eclipse, major online retailer Bol was forced to pull dozens of eclipse glasses from its webshop. They could not verify if the cheap imports met safety standards, leaving many consumers with unsafe replicas.

Roughly a quarter of those looking without glasses mistakenly believe a partial eclipse is dim enough to look at safely with the naked eye or ordinary sunglasses.

Ophthalmologists across Dutch university medical centers, including UMC Utrecht, have issued a joint alert: the sun will act like a laser burning into your retina. Looking at the sun focuses intense UV and infrared light directly onto the macula, which is the center of the retina. It literally cooks the light-sensing cells.

The retina has no pain receptors. A person can burn a permanent hole into their eye tissue without feeling any discomfort while it is happening. Visual damage does not appear instantly. Victims typically wake up the following morning with a permanent grey or black blind spot right in the center of their vision.

The moon will begin to overlap the sun at around 7 p.m., with the absolute peak of the partial eclipse over the Netherlands coming just after 8 p.m.