The tsunami: raising awareness and remembering

Kathryn Senior says we should never forget those who lost their lives.

Tom works on his new home, built with Oxfam’s support. Aceh Besar, Indonesia. (Tim Holmes / Oxfam) Remembering: a family attends a ceremony in a Buddhist temple, Hambantota, Sri Lanka. (David Levene/The Guardian) Snow Patrol lead the way at the tsunami relief concert in Cardiff last January.

It’s hard to believe, but Christmas has passed again and it has been over a year since many of us sat in shock among the remnants of wrapping paper and tinsel and heard the shocking news of the tsunami in South East Asia. I remember every day hearing the news get worse and worse as the waters subsided. I wasn’t able to imagine the gravity of it all until I went with my dad and my sister to the Tsunami appeal concert in Cardiff in January.

I confess that before I went to that concert I wasn’t really aware of all the campaigns for ending poverty in Africa and making trade fair, or giving as much aid as possible to the countries that had been hit by the tsunami. But what really hit me about that night was just how much people wanted to help. Everyone across the country was really making an effort to help those who needed it, and I know each person felt that sense of doing what was needed.

In the same way as the concert increased awareness and raised money to provide aid, the many photo exhibitions and memorial events throughout this year in honour of those who lost their lives have done the same. While the tsunami was not the only natural disaster to devastate countries this year, it helped to raise awareness of the issues and showed people’s desire to do something. That disaster will never be forgotten, so a year on from that date I think it is important to remember those who lost their lives, those who needed aid and those who still need aid.