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Tsunami – Fifth anniversary

In Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, women like Sivarasi, Makasewari, and Valliyamma have returned to prawn fishing with new nets and materials provided by Oxfam. Photo: Howard Davies/Oxfam

Five years on, Oxfam has closed the final elements of its tsunami aid programme.

2.5 million people helped
10,800 wells, 2900 houses, 102 schools, 31 bridges built
100km of roads cleared and constructed

Oxfam worked in seven tsunami-hit countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Thailand and Somalia.

In the wake of the disaster, which killed 227,000
people and left 1.7 million homeless, Oxfam concentrated on immediate needs, emergency shelter, water supply and public health.

As the programmes grew, work focused on helping people make a living and also on efforts to address some of the obstacles survivors faced, such as land rights.

Hundreds of thousands of people are now living in better conditions than they were before the tsunami thanks to the generosity of people around the world.

Read the Tsunami Fund - End of Program Report online (pdf 1mb)

In total, Oxfam International received NZ$500 million, more than 90 per cent of it donated by the public. A handful of programmes continued into 2009, but all money was transferred to affiliates and partners by the end of 2008. Less than five per cent of the fund has been spent on essential administration.

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