A MAJOR fundraising drive has been launched to help rebuild the lives of 300 families torn apart by the Boxing Day tsunami.

A total of £100,000 is needed for the project in the Tamil Nadu region of India, where almost 8,000 people were killed and many more left homeless.

Information on the appeal has been included in the latest wage slips of the county council's 18,000 staff - and the county's 400 schools are also being urged to take part in the effort to provide long-term support for the families.

The campaign is being spearheaded by David Eldridge, a teacher at Colburn Primary School, and his wife Adele, who teaches at Bedale primary.

The aim is to help re-establish the community, education, employment and health structures in a group of about ten coastal villages.

The ultimate aim is to help build Nambikki, a village in which 300 families live on higher ground about 500 metres from the sea, and provide them with the means to live in health and security.

"It is important that we listen to what the people want - there is no value in us telling them what they need," said Mr Eldridge.

"This way it embeds more respect for them into the process and allows them to regain confidence in themselves.

"A lot of the children have very bad images in their minds. Therefore, we have already set up a community television, on which we are playing Tamil and Hindi movies, full of dancing and singing, to provide them with happier ones."

He said the project was not seeking to adopt the "feeling sorry for me" approach to the campaign. "It's more important to concentrate on helping the people rebuild their communities.

"That's the crucial difference between disaster relief and what we are doing - development relief - it's a long term thing."

County council chairman John Dennis said: "It would be a great achievement if we could raise a substantial portion of the £100,000 needed to build Nambikki - which means the village of hope."

Anyone wanting more information on the project should visit the website www.irdt.info.

Donations can be made by cheque, payable to FOM or to Friends of Mettupalayam, and sent to Marion Sadler, policy and development unit, education offices, County Hall, Northallerton, DL7 8AE. Envelopes should be marked FOM Project