Buretu Community Development Chair, Dr Sunia Vasikata says for years the entire community would get flooded, leaving some villagers to wade through the flooded areas while carrying out daily chores.

Buretu village in Nakelo, Tailevu has invested thousands of dollars to redesign, rehabilitate and reclaim the village.

Villagers say if this did not happen, the village could have been wiped out long ago due to rising sea levels.

Buretu Community Development Chair, Dr Sunia Vasikata says for years the entire community would get flooded, leaving some villagers to wade through the flooded areas while carrying out daily chores.

“We’ve went to something we called do it yourself. We have do it ourselves, we have secured an Engineer, we’ve some research to collect data and the Engineer designed a scheme plan in four phases.”

Dr Vasikata believes building proper floodgates will protect their homes from rising seawater.

COP26 President Alok Sharma during his recent visit to the village stated that he will challenge his counterparts in the developed world on the need to render assistance and bolster climate financing.

Families in Buretu say they will not relocate and their resilience will keep them going in their quest to keep this traditional village intact.