The UK charity appeal launched after the Asian tsunami disaster broke every record in the book.

Such was the huge public response that the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group of 12 aid agencies, announced at the end of February that they had sufficient funds to carry out relief and long-term rebuilding work.

With the total at £300 million the appeal was closed two months after its launch.

The UN estimates that some 250,000 people died in what it describes as “among the worst human tragedies in history”.

The DEC, which has allocated over £100 million for the first phase of disaster relief, said the rest of the appeal fund will be spent on reconstruction and re-establishing livelihoods over the next three years.

Among agencies receiving funds from the DEC to fund their work were the British Red Cross, whose international director Matthias Schmale said: “We anticipate that we will have up to £60 million to spend across the affected region to help people rebuild their shattered lives. We have sent vital relief items, including 20,500 family kits – each providing essential assistance for five family members – to Indonesia and 20,000 family kits in Sri Lanka .”

Between 6.16pm on 30 December and 6.16pm on 31 December 2004 , the DEC website received 166,936 donations, raising £10,676,836 for the Tsunami Earthquake Appeal. Officials at Guinness World Records said that this is the most money ever donated online in 24 hours.

Oxfam also announced that following the unprecedented public response its work in the region is fully funded. And it highlighted concern that the catastrophe might obscure the need for help in other regions of the world. “As many people are homeless in Sudan as in the tsunami region,” said Oxfam’s International Director, Jasmine Whitbread, “yet Sudan has quickly become a forgotten emergency.”

The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn told the House of Commons in February that the UK Government had already given £75 million in relief funds and more would be made available. “The UK ’s immediate assistance helped to provide food, shelter, medical care, and water and proper sanitation, and we are now helping to establish recovery programmes. The relief phase in most places is well resourced and under control. We have supported United Nations agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, international and local non-governmental organisations, and we have given direct help to address urgent needs identified by the affected governments or the United Nations.”

He added that the UK Government will also make a significant contribution to the longer-term reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region. “We will follow the lead of the governments concerned in order to ensure that our contribution is part of a properly coordinated and effective reconstruction plan.”

Image © Dermot Tatlow/Panos Pictures