A CONSTRUCTION firm will help a community devastated by the Asian tsunami by rebuilding its school.

Through a charitable appeal it is running, MMP Group, in Newton Aycliffe, is working on a scheme to rebuild a 350-pupil school in the Kamala district, on the island of Phuket, in Thailand.

The company will design and prefabricate the school before shipping it to Thailand in flat-pack form.

MMP is enlisting the help of other local companies to donate time and money and already £94,000 has been raised towards the estimated £200,000 cost.

Company chairman Michael O'Connell said the focus of the appeal is not on providing emergency aid, but on helping the reconstruction and recovery process.

He said: "I have been going to Thailand for many years and as soon as I heard about the disaster, I knew I wanted to be a part of rebuilding the region.

"By utilising the skills this company has in abundance, we will be really making a difference to Kamala and providing a school to help people to move on with their lives.

"We've found that many local companies are getting behind this appeal, as it really will make a tangible difference to the lives of some of those affected by the devastating tsunami."