Five years on from the devastating Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean, response operations are winding down in the region.
The scale of the damage caused across thirteen countries on December 26th 2004 was unprecedented, with almost a quarter of a million lives lost and another two million people made homeless and destitute.
But Irish aid agency Trócaire has said the resulting "global expression of solidarity" was also unprecedented.
Billions of pounds were pledged internationally and Trócaire alone received £5.5m from the public in Northern Ireland.
"We have achieved a lot," Trócaire's emergency programme leader, Maurice McQuillan - who is originally from Downpatrick - said.
"Houses, schools, roads and infrastructure have been rebuilt and we helped thousands of people to get back on their feet and back to work."
In Banda Aceh, where the Tsunami struck first and hardest, Trócaire supported the construction of almost 21,000 houses and worked with communities to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
Much of the effort was focused on communities that had been directly affected by a long-running civil war there.
In thanking the public here for their support, Mr McQuillan added: "Five years after the Tsunami, life is finally returning to normal for the communities affected, thanks in no small part to the generosity of the public here at home."
© UTV News