A year after the tsunami struck the countries of the Indian Ocean, killing nearly 250,000 people, Puspavathi still dreams that her children are with her. When she wakes, she remembers they are gone.

‘I thought I was going to die,’ Kajendhri tells us from her half-destroyed home in Palhayar, India. ‘But I wanted to live so I could see my children again.’

How do we comprehend the scale of this disaster? every time I see the sea… goes beyond the who, where, when of journalism to explore the experiences of the tsunami’s survivors – through art, photography and personal testimonies.

Through the eyes of three British artists, we look at how people are emerging from disaster. Clicking on the main headings above will take you to one of many moving personal stories of the tsunami and the galleries of compelling images and sculpture featured in every time I see the sea…

Tim Hetherington’s powerful images of India and Sri Lanka bring us close to the urgency and grief. Ceramic artist Emma Summers takes us on a compelling journey through a country’s trauma. Jakarta-based photographer Jonathan Perugia offers his collection of implacable
black-and-white images of the people
who went missing in Indonesia.

every time I see the sea… is based on the experience of Christian Aid’s partner organisations in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and the people with whom they work. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the British and Irish public, our partners responded immediately to the disaster – and now, a year on, are helping to rebuild communities so they are stronger for the future.