Boxing Day Asian tsunami response

On 26 December 2004, a 9.3 magnitude earthquake struck in the Indian Ocean triggering a massive tsunami – one of the most devastating natural disasters on record.

The unprecented global response

The international Caritas confederation was one of the largest non-government agencies to respond to the Asian tsunami humanitarian crisis. Caritas member agencies launched an unprecedented fundraising appeal and emergency response: a total of USD $485 million was raised to fund immediate relief and long-term recovery, and Caritas member organisations mobilised thousands of staff and volunteers in the worst affected countries (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand).

True to its motto: before, during and after the headlines, the Caritas confederation launched its in-country response within hours of the disaster and continues to accompany tsunami affected communities in their long term development today.

In response to the Asian tsunami, Caritas Australia conducted the largest fundraising appeal in its history. Of almost AUD $25 million raised (including $1.1 million from the Government of Western Australia, $1.8 million from the Government of Victoria, and $750,000 from AusAID), 94% was directed to in-country programs and program management, and approximately 6 % was utilised for agency overhead costs.

• Approximately 30,000 households received livelihood asset replacements, such as fishing boats, in India.
• Children learn about disaster risk reduction in Indonesia.
• Approximately 25,000 households received livelihood asset replacements, such as nets, in Sri Lanka.

Caritas' response

India

• Approximately 500,000 people received emergency assistance 3038 temporary shelters were constructed
• Approximately 30,000 households received livelihood asset replacements (fishing boats, engines, nets etc) and vocational training
• 13,380 permanent shelters were constructed

Indonesia

• Approximately 250,000 people received emergency assistance 2340 transitional structures were constructed
• 31,000 people received livelihood asset replacement (fishing boats,engines, nets, livestock, agricultural tools, sewing machines etc) and vocational training
• More than 700,000 individuals received health and psychosocial support 9068 permanent shelters were constructed
• 350 infrastructure projects such as schools, clinics, roads, markets etc were constructed

Sri Lanka

• Approximately 230,000 people received emergency assistance
• 6905 transitional shelters were constructed
• Approximately 25,000 households received livelihood asset replacements (fishing boats, engines, nets, livestock, agricultural tools etc) and vocational training
• Around 40,000 people received psychosocial support
• 10,508 permanent shelters were constructed

Background

Although the earthquake’s epicentre lay just off the coast of Aceh – on the Indonesian island of Sumatra – the subsequent tsunami devastated coastal communities in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, The Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, and even affected parts of Africa.

In what the former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, described as “an unprecedented global catastrophe”, the tsunami killed approximately one quarter of a million people and displaced millions more. It destroyed houses, roads, bridges, schools, marketplaces and livelihoods, prompting the largest humanitarian fundraising appeal and emergency response ever recorded.