No event in recent history has galvanised the British public as the tsunami did when it struck on 26 December 2004.

The money you gave to the emergency appeal has enabled us to deliver a comprehensive package of relief and rehabilitation in five countries.

ActionAid will not be stopping there. We are committed to continuing a three year programme of work that will ultimately see us spending over =A330 million in the region.

The scale of the tsunami was unprecedented and ActionAid's response was the biggest in its history. In India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Somalia and Thailand we have reached over 380,000 people since the disaster.

ActionAid's approach was to seek out the poorest and most marginalised groups and make sure they were not left out of the relief effort. And to champion the cause of people who face loosing coastal land and livelihoods Over 70 per cent of those we supported have been women and girls who are often the most vulnerable after a disaster has struck.

In Somalia, one of the tsunami's forgotten casualties, we have delivered hundreds of tonnes of food aid to people who are still suffering the after-effects of severe drought.

In India, the mammoth scale of ActionAid's response has reached over 300,000 people.

In Sri Lanka, where almost a quarter of a million people were displaced after the tsunami, we have helped people piece back together their shattered lives through a comprehensive programme of trauma counselling and support.

In the Maldives, where many media reports of the tsunami were limited to what had happened to the hotels, ActionAid has been helping communities on remote islands to re-establish crops and market gardens which are the main income source for many families.

In Thailand ActionAid has backed a vociferous campaign to make sure that villagers' land is not given over to unscrupulous hotel developers, and that local people are allowed to continue to live on their land.

ActionAid's approach has been:

- to deliver relief in partnership with local communities

- to listen to people, not dictate to them to support people's struggles to protect their land and livelihoods

- to reach the people most in need and with them, build a sustainable future for themselves and their communities

Our success in building partnerships has enabled us to achieve our delivery targets. We forecast to spend over =A312 million by the end of 2005. By the end of ActionAid's tsunami relief and rehabilitation programme in 2008, that will rise to over =A330 million.

The people around the world have entrusted us with their money. We are making sure that the funds so generously donated are used to build a future for those affected by the tsunami that is free from poverty and free from fear.