ON behalf of all of us at the British Red Cross, I would like to thank your readers for their overwhelming generosity since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that struck on Boxing Day.

A massive global relief effort swung into action within hours of the quake to assess the extent of the damage and destruction and the help that is needed.

Since then, we have been working with other Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations around the world to help people in the affected countries and, in the UK, to run a support line as well as meeting and comforting people at airports arriving back from the region.

The needs, both long and short term, are immense but thanks to the enormous generosity of the British public, we have already raised enough money to make a real difference for them.

Thank you for your generosity.

SIR NICHOLAS YOUNG,

Chief Executive, British Red Cross