BOLTON residents raised a staggering £1.2 million for victims of the Asian tsunami.

The huge sum raised is being spent by the Disasters Emergency Committee. on roads, homes, schools, health clinics, water and sanitation, all of which are needed to rebuild entire communities.

The tsunami struck Thailand on Boxing Day in 2004 claiming 275,000 lives including those of Bolton teacher Susan Ford and her husband, Terence, who were killed two days after flying out to Thailand for a holiday.

Mrs Ford, aged 55, who was head of modern languages at Withins School, Breightmet, and her husband, a 62-year-old project manager, had arrived in the Khao Lak Countryside Resort on Nang-Thong beach on Christmas Eve last year.

But the tidal wave struck the Thai coast. Withins School has since raised £6,000 in her memory.

Brendan Gormley, the Disasters Emergency Committee Chief Executive, said: "On behalf of all DEC member agencies, I would like to say a big thank you to the people of Bolton for their amazing generosity."

Among the projects benefitting from donated cash include thebuilding thousands of temporary shelters, hundreds of permanent houses and laying the foundations for thousands more.

Cash has also been provided for repairing thousands of fishing boats. The money has enabled training for people who have lost their livelihoods in agriculture, sewing, masonry and carpentry.

A total of £128m was spent in the first year of the three-year reconstruction plan - more than a third of the money donated.