Three years ago, villagers watched as the Sittaung River on Myanmar’s coast crept closer to them, swollen by powerful tidal surges sea that eroded its banks.
Eventually, they were forced to flee.
Soraya Ali
Rising sea levels destroy Myanmar village
Three years ago, the people of Ta Dar U village on the coast of Myanmar accepted the inevitable: move or be washed away.
The Sittaung River on country's southeast coast crept closer to them, with powerful tidal waves eroding its banks.
Eventually, the 1,500 residents were forced to take apart their homes and rebuild several miles inland -- leaving behind the farmland they had lived on for decades.
The local school, once in the center of their village, has been reduced to a pile of rubble.
Hundreds of former students now spend hours traveling to attend other schools in the area.
Myo Min Thein, is a teacher at the school.
(SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) SCHOOL TEACHER, MYO MIN THEIN SAYING: "If the erosion continues at this rate, the future of the students in other destroyed villages will, in one way or another, be ruined.
The number of the staff (teachers) is insufficient, they don't want to come here as this area has been affected by the natural disaster." Myo Min is the only teacher at the new makeshift school further inland and is struggling to teach all the students alone.
(SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) SCHOOL TEACHER, MYO MIN THEIN SAYING: "This disaster has destroyed not only the building but also the dreams and ambitions of the children.
As a teacher, I hope that the local authorities will do something to help us with the issue of erosion." Officials say rapid erosion has already devoured 10 villages in the past four years.
Myanmar's climate change department has drafted plans to address rising waters.
But a deputy director told Reuters, it is not involved in resettling those displaced.