The Rev. Andrew Greaves of Dundee’s West Church in Perth Road has already identified a township where the Dundee link might be forged.

Mr Greaves travelled to Sri Lanka with his wife, Vicky, to meet volunteers in the Link Overseas Exchange programme they have run for some 15 years. Link volunteers were in Sri Lanka when the tsunami struck, but were away from the danger areas. Following the tragedy, Mr Greaves resolved to speed up the charity’s ultimate aim of establishing lasting ties with the country.

The minister also welcomed the establishment of a Lord Provost’s Committee, which has been set up to co-ordinate Dundee’s appeal response.

After speaking to the committee, he went to Sri Lanka with a brief to learn where, when and how city support might be most effectively used.

Mr Greaves has now delivered a report to Lord Provost John Letford outlining what he hopes could be the beginning of a major effort to rebuild a coastal community.

“Arriving in post-tsunami Sri Lanka there is no obvious difference,” Mr Greaves said.

“It is not until you start speaking to the people that you realise that everyone has their story to tell. A family of seven with only the mother surviving; the husband whose last memory of his wife was seeing a hand disappearing in a tide of debris; the surfer who rode the wave before it broke on the sea shore; the community worker who survived by chance and returned to his home to find his family oblivious to what had happened only two miles from his home.

“Behind all the stories is the unavoidable fact that in Sri Lanka well over 50,000 people have lost their lives and that nothing will ever be the same again.

“To be a survivor in the midst of such a disaster leaves the question on everyone’s lips. What can be done and how can I help?”

Mr Greaves said that in those places devastated by tsunami, housing was obviously essential. Tents and crisis shelters had met immediate needs but houses for the future now need to be constructed.

“Many schools have been used as a temporary solution to accommodation but a return to some sense of normality requires that schools should become schools once more.

“How to earn a living, when whole fishing fleets have been destroyed, also comes under the rebuilding phase.”

Mr Greaves said long-term community development arising from carefully planned reconstruction would go a long way to deciding how the people of Sri Lanka moved forward.

“Our report seeks to respond to the rebuilding and long-term requirements, and with this in mind the only possible response comes through co-operation with what is perceived by the people of Sri Lanka to be appropriate.”

Mr Greaves has told the Lord Provost that he would like to see Dundee’s commitment starting with the rebuilding of a township, with a minimum of 50 houses and a community centre.

“It is safe to assume that this could be delivered for £200,000,” he said.

“The community centre would be integral to the programme by providing facilities for learning, education and recreation and would include accommodation for people visiting from Scotland as the basis for the transfer of reciprocal, sustainable, skill sharing. University of Dundee departments, such as architecture, renewable energy, Centre for Enterprise Management, applied computing, could play a key role in the transfer of these skills.

“The proposed venue would be in the Trincomalee district, chosen because of its location and its diverse cultural mix.

“In essence, Trincomalee is a fishing community with long-standing connections with the UK. A British war cemetery lies within 10 miles of Trincomalee.”

Mr Greaves said seven schools in the region were destroyed, 20 were partly damaged and the education of 7530 children had been disrupted.

Three hospitals had also been badly damaged, and the fishing industry devastated.

Mr Greaves said, “My recommendation to the Lord Provost’s committee will be that the appeal is for £1 million with, in the first instance, £200,000 being allocated for the Trincomalee township. When complete the township could provide a model for a similar venture to be undertaken or for funds to be used in other ways.

“I would like to see a steering committee established in Dundee, and an action committee set up to manage the programme in Sri Lanka.”

Mr Greaves said the proposal, if agreed under the umbrella of the Lord Provost’s Tsunami Appeal, was now ready to be taken forward to the people of Dundee — but it had to be stressed that there was an urgency about the undertaking.

“People who have lost friends and relatives, houses, schools and hospitals, livelihoods and incomes are in urgent need of support as a means of making poverty history and rebuilding their lives for the future,” he said.