Ceremony remembers tsunami dead

MP Roger Gale and the Sri Lankan families gathered in Margate

A ceremony has been held at a Kent harbour to remember the hundreds of thousands killed in the Boxing Day Asian tsunami two years ago.

Members of Kent Association for Sri Lankan Tsunami Daruwo (Kastda), gathered in Margate Harbour with the MP for North Thanet, Roger Gale.

Wreaths were placed in the sea by Sri Lankan families living in Kent who began an appeal after the disaster.

The group has raised some £25,000 to support about 102 Sri Lankan orphans.

Public thank you

Kastda's application to become a registered charity was granted in November.

"Our tribute is for all nationalities that lost their lives in the tsunami," said founder member Meththa Neththananda, who visited Sri Lanka in November.

"It is also a tribute to the children and families who are slowly rebuilding their lives and a public thank you to everyone who has supported our fund-raising efforts during the last year."

President of Kastda, David Fletcher, said its work was a long-term project.

"It is likely to continue in some cases for about the next 15 years to see the children right through full-time education," he said.

But Mr Gale said that too much of the money donated by other people around the world had not yet been spent.

"Far too much of that money is still sitting in banks and not being used," he said.

"The villages, the hospitals and the schools are not being rebuilt."

A magnitude 9.0 quake triggered the Asian tsunami on 26 December 2004, claiming almost 250,000 lives.

Almost 170,000 died in Aceh in Indonesia with thousands more killed in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka.