Fund raisers from Thanet gathered yesterday for the ninth successive year to remember Sri Lankan victims of the Boxing Day tsunami.

Members of the Kent Association for Sri Lankan Tsunami Daruwo (KASTDA) once again paid tribute to more than 30,000 Sri Lankans who died in the cataclysmic 2004 tragedy.

South east Asia was devastated by the aftermath of the undersea earthquake that triggered a huge tidal wave that shook the world, killing about 230,000 people from 55 different countries.

Hansaka Seneviyatne, 14, and Hiruni Senaratne, 11, laid a wreath in the North Sea at Margate on behalf of KASTDA which has raised tens of thousands of pounds to support the social and educational welfare of Sri Lankan children left orphans by the disaster, until their fulltime education is finished either at school or university.

Margate-based KASTDA has raised funds to help educate more than 100 orphans and continues to support 42. The last is likely to complete their education in 10 years time.

The charity’s patron is Thanet North MP Sir Roger Gale, who told the gathering: “You deserve the thanks of our own community for the tireless effort that you have put, and continue to put, into fund-raising to help to ensure that some of those young people – the youngest was just two years old at the time – who lost their parents in the tsunami will receive the funding to support them through their primary, secondary and, where appropriate, University education. That is a tremendous and dedicated long-term commitment that will make a great difference to these young lives”.

The tsunami caused casualties in 12 countries, with the heaviest losses in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and India.

It spread around the world, affecting tides as far away as Iceland and the eastern United States.

The greatest number of lives lost was in Indonesia with some 168,000 left dead and more than half a million homeless.

The wave spread around the world, with tidal fluctuations being recorded as far away as Iceland and the Eastern United States.

Many tourists were killed in the disaster as westerners escaped chilly winters at home for more tropical climes.

Germany and Sweden suffered the greatest loss of lives in countries not directly hit.

The tsunami claimed the lives of 149 Britons.

More than 20 million dollars of international aid was pledged in the disaster’s immediate aftermath.

Forensic work was used to attempt to identify many of the victims. DNA testing was also used in authenticating parents claiming lost infants.