Since the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami five years ago we've been busy - spending £45 million in order to help hundreds of thousands of people rebuild their lives in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.
The British public responded with amazing generosity to the worst natural disaster in living memory, donating £400 million to the Disasters and Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal. As a member of the DEC, we received £37 million from the appeal, as well as raising more than £10 million from our own website and individual church appeals.
Five years on we have spent more than £45 million - five times more than any previous emergency appeal. Our partner organisations in Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia have rebuilt 24,000 homes for the poorest families affected and helped hundreds of thousands of people back into work.
Since the first few hours after the Boxing Day Tsunami devastated the shorelines of India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, our partners have been helping some of the poorest families to rebuild their lives. This audio slideshow tells the story of the disaster and how our partners have been responding over the last five years:
Here's what your money has paid for:
In Indonesia, our partners have:
- built 3,691 permanent houses and 1,320 temporary houses
- helped 20,000 children back into school with books, uniforms, bags and after school clubs
- provided 150 fisherman with boats
- helped 25,000 people back into work with skills training and interest free loans to start / restart their business
- provided trauma counselling to 17,967 people
In India, our partners have:
- built 16,503 permanent houses and 3,050 temporary houses
- helped 24,472 children back into school with books, uniforms, bags and after school clubs
- provided 1,834 fisherman with boats
- helped 145,705 people back into work with skills training and interest free loans to start / restart their business.
- provided trauma counselling to 24,715 people
In Sri Lanka, our partners have:
- built 4,740 permanent houses and 4,791 temporary houses
- helped 99,978 children back into school with books, uniforms, bags and after school clubs
- provided 1,751 fisherman with boats
- helped 92,299 people back into work with skills training and interest free loans to start / restart their business.
- provided trauma counselling to 45,769 people