In Finland, many people were affected by the tsunami. The Finnish Red Cross was involved in searching Finnish people, evacuating the victims and in providing support to their family members.
In the emergency phase in Thailand, 45 aid workers of the Finnish Red Cross took part in the search for Finnish people, their care and transportation back to Finland. Clothing was provided for 500 Finns.
In Finland, volunteer members of Red Cross first aid groups and psychologists met the evacuees upon arrival. The psychologists and volunteers also operated a telephone helpline for those in need of psychosocial support.
They served again on the helpline at Christmas 2005, a year after the disaster.
The majority of the assistance in Finland was spent on peer support for those who lost their family members. The FRC peer support programme was implemented in 2005–2007. It was one of the most extensive peer support initiatives ever launched in Finland.
The peer gatherings brought together 320 family members, who had lost 123 loved ones. A quarter of the participants were children. The gatherings were organized over four weekends. The family members got support from each other and from the FRC Emergency group of psychologists to work through their grief and to recover.
A total of 1.4 million euros was spent on tsunami relief domestically. The work has been completed.
Image: Kirsti Palonen
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Final tsunami report.pdf
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