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The Disappearance of Ayetoro Ayetoro, a coastal community in Nigeria's south-western Ondo state, was once known as the 'Happy City' due to its communist-style society founded by a Christian group in the 1940s. However, the community is now rapidly disappearing due to severe coastal erosion caused by tidal surges from the Atlantic Ocean. The Impact of Coastal Erosion The Atlantic Ocean has already swallowed more than half of the community, washing away hundreds of homes and other buildings, including schools and churches, over the past two decades. The erosion has left many residents with mounting debts and no business to help them repay loans. Arowo Victoria, a 60-year-old retired midwife, had her small shop swept away by the sea, destroying the business she had built with borrowed money after retirement. The Struggle to Rebuild Residents of Ayetoro are struggling to rebuild their lives after each flood, but the sea continues to advance, threatening their homes and businesses. Emmanuel Aralu, a 35-year-old resident, remembers large stretches of empty land where children would play football, but now all that space is gone. Motunrayo Asakasiki, 28, helps run her mother's shop on the swampy remains of Alaba Street, which was once a thriving business area but is now on the verge of being washed away. The Future of Ayetoro The future of Ayetoro looks bleak, with many residents fearing that their community will be completely erased by the sea. As one resident, Lawrence Lemanu, poignantly put it: 'You cannot fight the sea. You just watch it take everything.'