page_title: Fongafale
section_title: Villages on Fongafale
hierarchical_section_title: Fongafale / Villages on Fongafale
caption_attribution_description: English: Vaiaku Lagi Hotel
context_page_description: Fongafale is the largest of Funafuti's islets in Tuvalu. It is a long narrow sliver of land, 12 kilometres long and between 10 and 400 metres wide, with the South Pacific Ocean and reef on the east and the protected lagoon on the west. The north part is the Tengako peninsula and Funafuti International Airport runs from northeast to southwest on the widest part of the island with the village and administrative centre of Vaiaku on the lagoon side. On Fongafale, the Funafuti Kaupule is responsible for approval of the construction of houses or extensions to an existing buildings on private land and the Lands Management Committee is the responsible authority in relation to lands leased by Government.
  In 1972 Funafuti was in the path of Cyclone Bebe. Cyclone Bebe knocked down 90% of the houses and trees on Fongafale. The storm surge created a wall of coral rubble along the ocean side of Fongafale and Funafala that was about 10 miles long, and about 10 feet to 20 feet thick at the bottom.
context_section_description: There are four neighbourhoods (officially villages, which appear as one contiguous urban area):
  Alapi
  Fakai Fou
  Senala
  Vaiaku
  Vaiaku is the most important, most southern and most western neighbourhood, which includes the Vaiaku Lagi Hotel (the only hotel of the country, there are also a few guesthouses), some shops, a fuelpump station, the general post office and the National Bank of Tuvalu, which is Tuvalu's only commercial bank. The villages have a surface area of more than 0.65 square kilometres and approximately 4,000 inhabitants.
caption: Vaiaku Lagi Hotel
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