ALMOST ALL the €4,095,331 raised in Dublin's Catholic archdiocese after the December 2004 tsunami in Asia has been spent in helping people there to recover from one of the worst natural disasters of recent times. More than a million people in the region have benefited directly from money contributed in the archdiocese on Saturday and Sunday, January 8th and 9th, 2005, following an appeal by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
Eight countries were affected in the 2004 St Stephen's Day tsunami in which more than 250,000 people died. Millions were made homeless and lost their source of income. The response was unprecedented in Ireland, as elsewhere.
The Irish Catholic Bishops' agency Trócaire alone received €28.7 million from the Irish public in donations, as well as €1.5 million from the Government, through Irish Aid. It has responded to the emergency through Caritas Internationalis, a network of 162 Catholic humanitarian organisations, and directly through smaller local partners, both church-based and secular.
The agency opened an office in Indonesia to manage its response in South East Asia and it is now believed likely that Trócaire's tsunami funding will be spent by the middle of next year.
Trócaire's second report to the Dublin archdiocese (the first was in November 2005) on tsunami recovery spending from funds it raised indicates that the total spend on 10 projects in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand has come to €3,945,331, or 96 per cent of the total raised by the archdiocese.
The remaining €150,000 (4 per cent) has been allocated to two projects in Indonesia. In his appeal to the people of Dublin in early 2005 Archbishop Martin asked that parishes would remember particularly children affected by the disaster.
A considerable amount of the funding subsequently raised has been spent in building and repairing schools, such as the 65 which were reconstructed in the Aceh area of Indonesia, benefitting 20,000 children aged between five and 18.
That project was completed last May. Trócaire spent €680,769 from the Dublin archdiocese funds and €750,000 from the Government funds on that particular project.
Another project in Aceh involved the restoration of infrastructure in six coastal villages, involving 1,050 families, which is to be completed in October.
Trócaire has spent €1,400,000 on this project, of which €1 million was from Dublin archdiocesan funds.
To date 648 houses have been built there and handed over to local people, while two more are still under construction.
Psychological support has been provided for 677,481 vulnerable people in Aceh, which Trócaire funded with €400,000 from Dublin archdiocesan funds towards the total of €496,533 needed.
Housing projects in Sri Lanka, benefitting 28,000 people, have been funded by Trócaire with €991,914 from Dublin archdiocesan funds contributing towards the total needed of €3,788,462 (including €200,000 from Irish Aid).
Another €500,000 from the Dublin archdiocese has been spent in India providing emergency relief to 60,000 families, including 22,526 children.
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