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South Asia: Chronicle of aid efforts

Here you find our chronicle of aid efforts: How German Agro Action reacted to the tsunami disaster in South Asia. "After the tsunami... - saving lives - help in reconstruction".
Before the end of the day, 26 December. Agro Action provided 100,000 Euros - counting on the support of its donors

  • as emergency aid for Sri Lanka - enough to support 3,000 families for one week.

27 December. Morning: The fretting over the fate of our colleagues Anke Schürmann and Claudia Balkhausen comes to an end: Both were carried away by the wave in Matara, but were just able to swim to safety and be rescued.

27 December. Noontime: We receive the first shocking report from our project co-ordinator, Martin Baumann. He had organised the first aid shipment to Mullaittivu and was witness to large mounds of corpses and ghastly scenes of destruction there: 20 villages in the area disappeared completely!

27 December. Afternoon: Two additional staff members, Simone Pott and Gunther Schramm, fly from Frankfurt to Colombo.

During the early morning hours of 28 December: The first large convoy carrying aid leaves the project centre Vavuniya Richtung Mullaittivu: drinking water, food, clothing and blankets, children's clothing and medication.

28 December. Morning: Additional aid activities commence in Southern India and Thailand.

28 December. Morning: Agro Action increases its emergency aid to 500,000 Euros. Additional funds will be released immediately after donations are received.

28 December. Afternoon: In India efforts commence to purchase 150,000 kilos of rice and 15,000 kilos of beans, 3,000 packages containing cooking utensils and clothing as well as material for emergency accommodations.

29 December. Morning: In a press release, Agro Action proposes that a joint benefit show be run on television by all the aid organisations

29 December. Noontime: In Sri Lanka planning is almost completed for the supply of 50,000 people with aid.

29 December. Afternoon: 1.3 million Euros in donations were received on this day.

30 December. Morning: Co-ordination efforts for aid shipments to the coastal regions destroyed by the tsunami commence full steam in Bangkok, Thailand.

30 December. Noontime: Staff member Rüdiger Ehrler flies to India to support the aid shipments in Tamil Nadu.

31 December. The team is reinforced: staff member Stefan Jauch arrives in Thailand, while Jörg Meier lands in Indonesia to set up an emergency aid site in this hard-hit country.

1 January. In Sri Lanka immediate aid is expanded to the areas of Galle and Jaffna.

2 January. To prevent epidemics from breaking out, a programme is commenced in Sri Lanka to supply clean drinking water and build latrines.

3 January. An additional 5,000 people are supplied with aid in the Indian state of Kerala.

In response to a proposal by Agro Action, the city of Bonn enters into a partnership arrangement providing aid in the district of Cuddalore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the southern coast of India.

4 January. The first steps are taken to commence with reconstruction in Thailand: Efforts begin to purchase wood for fishing boots.

5 January. In India 15,000 more people are receiving emergency aid.

6 January. Agro Action was one of the first aid organisations along with its Irish Alliance-2015 partner Concern to set up a joint office in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh.

8 January. A team of domestic German Agro Action partners is travelling to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands to assess aid-supply options.

10 January. German Agro Action staff member Gunther Schramm organised immediate aid for eight villages from Trincomoalee, Sri Lanka.

Agro Action is one of the strongest organisations in Sri Lanka. It has been in the country since 1972 and since then has supported many thousand of people with a total of 140 projects and promotional aid totalling more than 26 million Euros. Agro Action works with partners in both parts of the divided country. Its largest domestic partner, the organisation Seva Lanka, currently has several hundred staff working to help the victims of the tsunami. Agro Action carefully co-ordinates its emergency aid efforts with its partners in South Asia and Europe.