How CAFOD has helped communities rebuild after the tsunami

1. Tsunami: Five years on

2. This beach in eastern Sri Lanka, now peaceful, was once the scene of massive destruction after the tsunami hit south east Asia on 26 Dec 2004.

3. The devastation days after the tsunami hit in Aceh, Indonesia. The giant waves ripped through entire towns and villages in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. More than 200,000 people were killed and millions of homes were destroyed or damaged.

4. Vinashathamby with his 11-year-old daughter Ujini in Navaledi village, Sri Lanka in 2005. He lost two children in the tsunami, but rescued his youngest daughter from a tree after the wave had hit. His home was completely destroyed. “ I tied a rope around my daughter and hoisted her into a tree”, he said. “Then the second wave came. I thought I was going to die, but I held on to her hair with one hand – and the trunk of the tree with the other. When I brought her down she was unconscious.”

5. Now Vinashathamby is living in a new house with his wife and Ujini, built by our partner, Caritas EHED in eastern Sri Lanka. They have built more than 2,000 houses with our help.

6. All the houses built by our partners in Sri Lanka were planned and built in consultation with local people. Caritas EHED gave the family a grant, and Vinashathamy hired local contractors to complete the work. Ujini now 15 years old says: “The new house is better than before. I’m happy here.”

7. Local people were employed to build their own houses in Poovanthopu , southern India. Together with our partners in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia we built homes for 4,500 families after the tsunami that are better able to withstand earthquakes, flooding and storms.

8. The bell rings at Suak Ribee school, built by our partner Islamic Relief in Aceh, Indonesia. Thanks to your support we helped our partners to build 26 new schools in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

9. Seventeen-year-old Aysha Cader is one of the more than 1,300 students at the Zahira Muslim College in Galle, Sri Lanka. Our partner, Caritas Sri Lanka built a new classroom building at the school after the tsunami destroyed several buildings on campus.

10. In India, we supported local organisation Social Change and Development to build five children’s centres. Mrs Valiammal works at the centre in Tuticorin, southern India. She said: “ The centre has brought great peace of mind to parents who have to leave early in the mornings to work, often returning late in the day. They know that their children are being cared for.”

11. Fishermen unload fish in southern India, October 2006. Millions of people lost everything in the tsunami, and found it difficult to earn an income to support their families. We supported them to restart their businesses – whether it was providing new fishing boats or a loan to replace equipment or stock that was lost in the disaster.

12. Chandrabatha, 49, didn’t earn money before the tsunami, but was encouraged to join a savings group set up by our partner Caritas EHED in eastern Sri Lanka. She was given £110, half of which was a loan, that she used to set up a small shop.

13. In the beginning she sold biscuits and sugar, but now the shop has expanded to sell a whole range of items including rice, cold drinks, shampoo and organic vegetables. As well as the loan, she received training in how to run her own business. She said: “Now we don’t need our husbands to provide everything, and I’m spending my time productively. The solutions to our problems are with us.”

14. Mother of four, Rajani is also a member of a savings group in eastern Sri Lanka. She used her loan from Caritas EHED to buy chickens to replace those lost in the tsunami and restart her poultry business.

15. Thanks to your support, Rajani and other women in the group received training on bird flu and other illnesses and have links to the local vet if there are any diseases they cannot treat themselves. Rajani now has 24 birds and earns £14 a month from the sale of eggs and meat. She said: “I use the money I earn to buy more chickens and send my children to school.”

16. Thanks to your support the lives of thousands of survivors have been transformed. People have safer, more comfortable homes and secure jobs. Many people have savings for the first time in their lives and are better prepared if disaster should strike again.

17. Picture credits Caritas International, Hannah Bristow, Pete Garrett, Noel Gavin, Lucy Morris, Judith Rees, David Snyder, Richard Wainwright