The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It was an undersea megathrust earthquake that registered a magnitude of 9.1–9.3 , reaching a Mercalli intensity up to IX in certain areas. The earthquake was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Burma Plate and the Indian Plate.
The humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake of a magnitude of 9.1 was prompted by one of the worst natural disasters of modern times. On 26 December 2004, the earthquake, which struck off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, generated a tsunami that wreaked havoc along much of the rim of the Indian Ocean. Particularly hard-hit were the countries of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. About 230,000 people were killed, tens of thousands more were injured, and 1.7 million became homeless and displaced.
The 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami-rail disaster is the largest single rail disaster in world history by death toll, with 1,700 fatalities or more. It occurred when a crowded passenger train was destroyed on a coastal railway in Sri Lanka by a tsunami which followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The tsunami subsequently caused over 30,000 reported deaths and billions of rupees in property damage in the coastal areas of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was one of the countries struck by the tsunami resulting from the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. On January 3, 2005, Sri Lankan authorities reported 30,000+ confirmed deaths.
The Singapore Red Cross Society (SRC) is a humanitarian organisation that is part of a world-wide, non-political and non-religious International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), established on 30 September 1949 as part of the British Red Cross Society. It was officially incorporated by the Parliament of Singapore on 6 April 1973 and was appointed as the National Blood Donor Recruiter by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) in 2001.
The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is a self-governance movement in Sri Lanka, which provides comprehensive development and conflict resolution programs to villages. It is also the largest indigenous organization working in reconstruction from the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Founded in 1958 by A. T. Ariyaratne when he took “forty high school students and twelve teachers from Nalanda College Colombo on “an educational experiment” to an outcaste village, Kathaluwa, and helped the villagers fix it up.
The World Film Festival of Bangkok is an annual international film festival held between October & November in Bangkok, Thailand.
Udaya Prasanna Vithanage is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He is considered one of the pioneers of the third generation of the Sri Lankan cinema. He has directed eight feature films including Death on a Full Moon Day (1997), August Sun (2003), Flowers of the Sky (2008) & With You, Without You (2012) and won many prestigious national and international awards and have also been commercially successful in Sri Lanka. In his early theatre work, he translated and produced plays by international writers, adapted works of world literature to film. He has battled against the censorship in Sri Lanka and worked as an educator of cinema who has conducted many Master classes in the subcontinent for young filmmakers and enthusiasts.
Library damage resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake has been reported in six Asian countries. On December 26, the massive 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The resulting tsunamis killed more than 180,000 people. In addition to the loss of human lives, cultural institutions were destroyed in several Asian nations. Libraries on the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka and the northern province of Aceh on Sumatra were most severely affected by the disaster.
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or. This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
IsraAID is an Israel-based non-governmental organization that responds to emergencies all over the world with targeted humanitarian help. This includes disaster relief, from search and rescue to rebuilding communities and schools, to providing aid packages, medical assistance, and post-psychotrauma care. IsraAID has also been involved in an increasing number of international development projects with focuses on agriculture, medicine, and mental health.
Aid Still Required (ASR) is a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to bringing attention and humanitarian aid to areas suffering from natural disasters or human crises. Incorporated in Santa Monica, California, US, in 2008 as a result of founders Hunter and Andrea Herz Payne's three-year journey following the December 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami. The name, "Aid Still Required" and the mission were born out of the need to bring these issues back into the spotlight after they have left the news headlines and public awareness. Aid Still Required indicates its commitment to finding innovative ways to build back these regions through environmentally sustainable means. Future project locations are Thailand, Appalachia, NYC First Responders, Haiti, and the Gulf Oil.
Leena Manimekalai is an Indian filmmaker, poet and an actor. Her works include five published poetry anthologies and a dozen films in genres, documentary, fiction and experimental poem films. She has been recognised with participation, mentions and best film awards in many international and national film festivals.
Heendeniya Vidanaralalage Punya Heendeniya, popularly as Punya Heendeniya, is a former Sri Lankan cinema actress who currently resides in England.
Nalaka Gunawardene trained as a science writer, he has worked as a journalist, broadcaster and development communicator since 1987.
Sanjeewa Pushpakumara is a Sri Lankan film director, screenwriter and producer.
Olivier Weber is a French writer, novelist and reporter at large, known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been a war correspondent for twenty-five years, especially in Central Asia, Africa, Middle-East and Iraq. He is an assistant professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, president of the Prize Joseph Kessel and today ambassador of France at large. Weber has won several national and international awards of literature and journalism, in particular for his stories on Afghanistan and for his books on wars. His novels, travels writing books and essays have been translated in a dozen of languages.
Sahana Software Foundation is a Los Angeles, California-based non-profit organization founded to promote the use of free and open-source software (FOSS) for disaster and emergency management. The foundation's mission statement is to "save lives by providing information management solutions that enable organizations and communities to better prepare for and respond to disasters." The foundation's Sahana family of software products include Eden, designed for humanitarian needs management; Vesuvius, focused on the disaster preparedness needs of the medical community; and legacy earlier versions of Sahana software including Krakatoa, descended from the original Sahana code base developed following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The word "Sahana" means "relief" in Sinhalese, one of two national languages of Sri Lanka.
Alison Thompson has worked for the past 16 years as a full-time humanitarian volunteer.
Jaya Sri, are a Sri Lankan reggae duo consisting of Rohitha Jayalath and Rohan Jayalath, who are twins along with five more members to form full band. Considered one of the most commercially successful music duos in Sri Lanka, Jaya Sri has received global success in many European countries particularly with their literal mixed reggae, hip hop style modern infusion in taking Western and Sinhala music.
