BRITAIN: More than 5,000 people visited a photographic exhibition in London yesterday set up to commemorate the victims of the Asian tsunami. The exhibition, After the Wave, is a series of images taken by British photographers of the devastation wrought by the giant waves.
Organised by Oxfam, the show also captures the relief effort and reveals the way in which communities have been rebuilt one year on. Londoners and tourists flocked to the South Bank in London, outside the National Theatre, for the preview day of the exhibition, held one year after disaster struck.
The display will open again on January 10th until February 28th and will later be taken around the country and on to Sri Lanka.
Brendan Cox, emergencies specialist at Oxfam, said: "The progress already made is impressive. For example, 90 per cent of the Sri Lankan fishing fleet has been rebuilt and up to 60 per cent of people are back in work.
"These photographs show the scale of progress that has been made, but also highlight the loss and the grief which certainly hasn't been erased."
Dan Chung from the Guardian is one of many photographers whose work is featured in the exhibition.
"This exhibition profiles some of the most powerful and most moving photographs taken following the tsunami," he said. "Photographs like these help people connect with the pain and suffering being experienced thousands of miles away.
"The British public responded like never before. Part of this is about showing them what difference their generosity has made."