Fight or Flee: Tuvalu’s residents prepare for mass displacement as nation forecast to be among first to disappear due to climate change

FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu: As the ocean grew dark and violent, lashing at the exposed shoreline, Ms Gitty Yee grabbed her camera and ran out towards the maelstrom.

A powerful storm had arrived in Tuvalu, punctuated by a king tide. Powerful waves rose to engulf the flanks of the narrow main island of Fongafale, leaving trails of debris on the main two-lane road that runs from toe to tip.

“It was actually the worst one I’ve ever seen,” the 25-year-old amateur photographer recounted of the calamity back in February.

“It really damaged a lot of homes. It destroyed some seawalls and the water was up to our knees,” she said.

Amid the turbulence, the Tuvalu native turned her gaze – and her lens – towards local children coming out to swim, delighting in the swell and oblivious to the apparent dangers of an angry Pacific Ocean.

It will be like this every time the tide rises, she explained.

For Tuvalu, a coral atoll – ring-shaped island – precariously close to sea level, an event like this one was reason to fear. This tiny nation is forecast to be among the first to disappear because of climate change – due to the rising tides that bite away at the fragile coast.

Its peril on the geographical margins has led it to try and become a powerful voice at the center of global climate negotiations – a thorn in the side of heavy polluters. At the same time, it is reckoning with a future where the nation may only exist in the metaverse.