Rescue team heads to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was one of the countries worst hit by the disaster

A team of rescue volunteers is heading to Sri Lanka to help with the disaster relief effort.

Six members of Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID) will work to provide clean drinking water in Alutgama, 65km south of Columbo.

The team is taking a water filtration system capable of providing thousands of litres of fresh water.

Members of Gloucestershire-based SARAID have experience of disaster relief in countries such as Turkey and India.

Its members primarily come from the emergency services.

Two-week deployment

The group includes firefighters, paramedics and a doctor, plus a structural engineer and a builder.

Spokesman Geoff Parkinson said the team was due to touch down in Sri Lanka on Friday morning.

"They are landing in Colombo and will be deployed to an area where local authorities feel it is going to do the most good," he said.

The volunteers intend to spend two weeks installing the filtration machine, which can produce up to 3,500 litres of fresh water an hour.

Locals will also be given training on how to use the system.

Sri Lanka was one of the countries worst hit by the dramatic sea surges in the Indian Ocean on 26 December.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 people have died and up to one million are homeless.

Mr Parkinson said SARAID aimed to raise £10,000 to pay for the filtration machine, which has been borrowed for the deployment.

If it can raise the cash, the team will leave the system in Sri Lanka.

"We have people dashing around at the moment trying to raise the money to pay the company which has allowed us to use it," Mr Parkinson said.