Children of Tsunami: The Journey Continues

They have never met each other. Some have never travelled beyond their native village. They all belong to statistically average families in their communities. Five girls and three boys – aged 8 to 16 -- living in coastal areas of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Each family was hit by the Asian Tsunami of December 2004. Some lost their loved ones; or their homes; or their belongings. Many found their livelihoods gone and families rendered destitute.

As they cope with the many challenges of rebuilding their shattered lives and livelihoods, the Children of Tsunami tell us their personal stories of anguish and survival, courage and resilience. These testimonies are a mirror that reflects the long and arduous journey back to normalcy for millions of Asians affected by one of the worst natural disasters of all time. Along the way, we also probe what happened to the massive volume of donations the world pledged to help the survivors.

TVE Asia Pacific commissioned locally based film-makers in each country to keep revisiting these families every month for most of 2005. In this documentary, we compile the highlights and lowlights of our featured children – as well as their families and communities – in what was Asia’s longest year.

Their journey is far from over.

Duration: 48 mins
Year of production: 2005
Countries filmed in: India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand
In each country, a locally based production crew carried out filming for TVE Asia Pacific.

Regional Production Team
Supervising Producer: Bruce Moir
Production Assistant: Yohan Abeynaike
Production Manager: Manori Wijesekera
Executive Producer: Nalaka Gunawardene

Produced by: TVE Asia Pacific, www.tveap.org

Partner organisation that supported Children of Tsunami production in cash or kind include:
Global: Oxfam Novib; HelpAge International; Help the Aged, UK; UNDP-APDIP;
National: Rural Development Society, Tamil Nadu, India; CREED, Tamil Nadu, India; Yayasan Bumi Sehat, Indonesia; Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka; Agromart Foundation, Sri Lanka; Nation Broadcasting Corporation Ltd, Thailand; Raks Thai Foundation, Thailand.

For more information, visit: www.childrenoftsunami.info