Situation

On December 26th 2004, a massive Tsunami devastated much of Asia. The Epicentre was at the far tip of Indonesia near the province of Banda Aceh, and was triggered by an underwater earthquake registering 9.1 on the Richter scale. The deathtoll was over
220,000 with over 1.5 Million homeless as summarised below:

Country	Deaths Confirmed	Deaths Estimated	Refugees Displaced
Indonesia	130,000	167,736	>500,000
Sri Lanka	35,322	35,322	516,150
India	12,405	18,045	647,599
Thailand	5,395	8,212	7,000
Somalia	78	289	5,000
Burma	61	500	3,200
Maldives	82	108	>15,000
Others	89	98	>1,200

Those that had survived were faced with dead bodies and debris all around them. With water everywhere but none of it drinkable, and food and bodies strewn everywhere, there was a real threat of water-borne diseases affecting the remaining population. Also, many of those who had survived had severe scarring and injuries, and were suffering shock and mental trauma.

Response

The HF teams in Asia responded immediately in several countries to provide basic aid and treatment to the victims. Quickly, the impact was assessed. HF set up food distribution points and medical centres in India, Sri Lanka, and the Banda Aceh province of Indonesia, which had been the nearest and worst hit.

HF established a camp at Lamno, in Banda Aceh province where one of the first tasks was to establish safe drinking water and sanitation for the general public. HF had got access to electric water pumps. These were installed at the Lamno camp and immediately helped 3,000 people. A combination of medical treatment and the provision of safe water got these people out of danger.

In Europe and North America, over £1.5 Million was raised in a short time. The next task was to liaise with local teams and prioritise aid shipments. 16 large 40 foot containers were despatched to Asia with an assortment of urgent supplies, and again the effective distribution of the supplies was achieved by working in partnership with local agencies.

Outcome

Victims helped	> 3,000
Aid delivered	> £1.5 Million of aid was delivered
Mandays of effort	> 15,000 days
Project Duration	5 months initial relief + long-term projects

Victims helped: > 3,000
Aid delivered: > £1.5 Million of aid was delivered.
Mandays of effort: > 15,000 days
Project Duration: 5 months initial relief + long-term projects

The HF effort ensured that victims had safe water as quickly as possible, and had their injuries treated by medical experts in a timely way.

Since then, efforts have switched to the next Phase, long-term care of the orphans, providing help with skills training and education, and other tasks related to the long-term rehabilitation of these communities.

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