Tsunami exhibition opens at Cathedral

An exhibition showing how people are rebuilding their lives after the Asian tsunami, and how money donated by Irish people has been spent to help them, is opening in Dublin today.

The Christian Aid display, which is at Christ Church Cathedral for the next two weeks, aims to explore the experiences of the tragedy’s survivors through children’s pictures, personal testimonies and photography.

The exhibition features a photograph of Muslim schoolgirls playing in the sea at Colombo, Sri Lanka, by Tim Hetherington, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the best photographs of the year.

It is being opened by the cathedral’s dean Desmond Harman and the charity’s director Margaret Boden.

Organisers said one of the most striking aspects of the exhibition is drawings and paintings by children in Jaffna at the northern end of Sri Lanka.

The Jaffna Social Action Centre, a Christian Aid partner, is helping children to come to terms with the trauma they experienced when the waves hit.

Every time I see the sea… Life after the Tsunami, also shows how more than €4.5m raised by the public on both sides of the Irish border has been spent.

The exhibition was open to the public at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast before moving to Dublin this week.