Almost 300,000 people died and over a million were displaced as a result of the earthquake that sent huge waves crashing into coastal areas in South and East Asia on 26 December 2004.

HelpAge International, working with partners HelpAge Sri Lanka and HelpAge India, were on the ground delivering aid to the people most severely affected within 24 hours of the disaster striking.

With funding from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), HelpAge International and our partners are supporting older people and their families to rebuild their lives through a three-year rehabilitation programme in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Initial response

Using a unique approach to identification, we managed distribution using a system of tokens to target the most vulnerable older people and make sure aid reached them.

In the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, we provided 10,400 older people and their families with medical relief, water sanitation tablets, dry food, cooking utensils, fuel, matches, lamps, blankets and clothes.

In Sri Lanka, we supplied 10,000 older people and their families in Ampara, Batticaloa, Hambantota, Trincomalee, Galle and Matara with drinking water, cash grants and medical supplies, and relief packs that included clothes, mosquito nets and cooking utensils.

Key issues for older people

• Lack of detailed data on older people means that they were overlooked in the initial relief response and likely to be forgotten in plans for recovery and rehabilitation.
• Older people make up around 10% of the population but were not specifically targeted as a vulnerable group and were unable to access food, healthcare and cash due to discrimination, lack of information or support mechanisms.
• Little effort was made to consult older people or to recognise the supportive roles they play in communities through paid work, pensions or work in kind, such as looking after orphans and other children, and working in family businesses.
• Many older people lost their livelihoods as well as family members who provided them with support, but their financial needs are not being addressed.
• Cash income, however small, from fishermen's occupational pensions, state social pensions or short-term relief payments provided critical support for older people.

Key recommendations

HelpAge International is calling on governments and relief agencies to:

• collect disaggregated data by age and gender
• recognise older people as a vulnerable group and implement intergenerational approaches in emergency-response programmes that support older people’s roles
• establish mechanisms that support older people to access their entitlements
• develop social-protection schemes in the form of small, regular cash payments to older people
• support vulnerable older people who want to work to establish their livelihoods
• create opportunities for older people to participate in decision-making.