The welcome of the local community

  • Organizing emergency response teams

    The volunteers' first glimpse of where they will be working.

  • Loading the emergency equipment

  • Coming face to face with the aftermath of the tsunami

  • Getting the volunteers and equipment to where they are needed

  • Checking the equipment

  • The welcome of the local community

  • Assisting NGOs

  • Living conditions

  • Inventory of requirements

  • Assessing the quality of the wells

  • Prioritizing drinking water for the hospital

  • Repairing the water supply system in Meulaboh

  • Treating water

  • Storing drinking water

  • Supplying water

  • Monitoring the quality of the drinking water

  • Children back at school

  • Supplying drinking water to remote villages

  • Concentrating on the task ahead

  • The feeling of having been useful


© Veolia Waterforce

The local communities refuse to be beaten by what has happened to them

The volunteers are touched by the warmth of the welcome they receive from the local communities.

What strikes the volunteers on arrival in the disaster area is the inner strength with which the affected communities are dealing with the catastrophe, their courage and determination as well as the smile and kindness of their welcome despite all their suffering.

Eyewitness accounts

"There was such a discrepancy between what you saw and the serenity, the ability to accept all that has happened and the desire to start over again ".

Christine Bailly, Technician at the CAE laboratory in Florange, France.

"They had all lost members of their families, they were still in a state of shock, they still hadn't quite understood what had happened, but they still gave us all the assistance they could".

Lucy Lytton, Hydrogeologist, Three Valleys Water, London.

" What stood out the most was the courage of those who had lost everything, who despite everything are still smiling and still haven't lost their appetite for life."

Mohamed Yassine, Site manager in Rabat, Morocco.

"Incredible communities. They start all over again and help each other. Images from a war zone, they have to start all over again from scratch. Very resourceful, they can make anything out of nothing".

Jean-Charles Rochart, employee from Générale des Eaux in Hirson in the east of France.