Generous people in the Isle of Man contributed more than £5,000 to an appeal to help people affected by the Indonesian tsunami.

The tsunami occurred in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi at the end of September following an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, causing the death of more than 2,000 people and leaving 200,000 more in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

The scale of the disaster triggered an appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which in turn led the One World Centre to set up a local street collection in support.

Some £3,100 was collected in the first weekend with a further £1,300 being raised through collection buckets in Manx Co-op stores across the island and at Shakti Man in Ramsey.

Further donations were made by a number of local churches with the total now exceeding £5,170.

Wendy Shimmin, coordinator of the One World Centre, said: ’Once again the people of the Isle of Man have been generous in their support of others at their time of need.

’Tens of thousands of families have been left homeless by the tsunami and in urgent need of food, water and shelter. All the money raised in the Isle of Man was sent on to the DEC and from there it has been forwarded to the aid agencies working on the ground in Sulawesi.

’As well as thanking everyone who has donated to the appeal, we’d also like to record our appreciation to all our volunteers who gave up their time to hold the collection as well as the Manx Co-op, Shakti Man and local churches for their support. We know some people also made donations direct to the DEC and anyone still wishing to make a contribution can donate online at dec.org.uk or you can donate £5 by texting the word DONATE to 70000.’

The Disasters Emergency Committee is an umbrella organisation that brings 14 leading UK aid charities together in times of crisis, collectively raising money to reach those in need quickly. The One World Centre is part of its Rapid Response Network, taking on the task of organising street collections on the Island at the time of a DEC Appeal.