Tuvalu, which was called the Ellis islands, became independent of the UK in 1978. It almost feels like a small UK town or village. Albeit a village that sits on sinking coral and rising oceans. Which is a bit of a worry as most of the atoll is actually below sea level.
Like so much of life, the real story of Tuvalu’s problems are not told. The Americans arrived here in 1943, and built an airfield. Rather than import rock to do so, they scrapped the island away, digging huge borrow pits, crushing to coral and using it to build the runway, which is raised to avoid the sea on what was already a low lying island. They then bulldozed the island even more, to create low sea walls, to protect the airfield. All of this lowered the middle of the island to below sea level. Not a top idea.
Now at high tide the water seeps up in the low lying areas, slipping under the sea walls. I have photos already to prove this. You can see the high sea walls, the raised runway, the lower areas around them and the big holes where the American engineers dug out the materials they needed to create concrete.
Now everyone photographs the water and yells global warming. I think they should yell “American Ceebees”.
Every day on Tuvalu I would walk over from the Government Offices where I was working to a little hotel (where Princess Ann once stayed) and have lunch on a platform over the beach. The views were spectacular.
The Government Office:
The Lunch Platform:
The view to the left:
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