The Cardinal’s visit begins in the capital Colombo and he then moves on to Batticaloa, on the east coast - the focus of CAFOD’s relief work, and other sites affected by the disaster.

The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami killed more than 200,000 people in countries as far apart as Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Somalia. In Sri Lanka, over 30,000 people died in the tsunami and tens of thousands were made homeless. More than 6,500 temporary homes have been completed by CAFOD's partner, Caritas Sri Lanka, throughout the country, with over 4,000 temporary houses in Batticaloa.