The Smyrna Church Tsunami Relief Fund formed in the weeks following the tragedy of the Asian Tsunami of December 26th, 2004. As many as 230,000 lives were lost to the tsunami in numerous South and Southeast Asian countries with Indian Ocean coastal borders. Of the many countries impacted by the tsunami, Sri Lanka was one of those hardest hit. This small island-nation, struggling to recover from years of terrorism and unrest, was ill-equipped to handle a tragedy of this magnitude. Today it is estimated that more than 35,000 perished as a result of the tsunami in Sri Lanka alone, while more than 500,000 were displaced and an estimated 150,000 lost their means of livelihood.
