The Americans called Funafuti atoll Ellice Island and it was a major fuel stop-over and storage center in WWII. None of the landscape reaches more than a few meters above the sea.

Radio Tuvalu says the families were moved to the Tuvalu Red Cross with the assistance of the Disaster Management Department, the Police and Red Cross.

One of the woman rescued from her home said the first huge wave came around four o clock on Monday morning and then a following waves.swept most of their belongings out of the house.

Reports from the Tuvalu weather have attributed the swells to a recent

earthquake close to Tonga worsened by a particularly high tide.