British holidaymakers set up their own aid agency

At the Galle Fort Hotel, the swimming pool is tastefully backlit, the urns of tropical lilies are in place and the blackclad residents are dining on won ton soup, red snapper and lychee coconut sorbet. This may be Base Camp in the gradual takeover of Galle's historic Dutch fort district by the Condé ast Traveller set, but it is also part of a remarkable, spontaneous aid effort from British holidaymakers and expats to give something back to the people who have hosted them so generously.

When the big wave came last week, dozens of holidaymakers and expats - overwhelmingly British - emerged from their minimalist merchant house conversions in Galle, began phoning round their friends and contacts and started, from scratch, their own aid agency, Project Galle 2005. Yesterday alone, they say, it fed nine thousand people.

Simone Grace, a film production co-ordinator on holiday from Weybridge and now one of the leaders of the aid effort, said: "We came here for a few weeks to look at property and we found ourselves caught up in this. It's been awesome."

"The official aid agencies have still only just got here and it's been more than a week," said Ivan Robertson, a property consultant originally from Finsbury Park, ticking off supplies on his clipboard in a 17th-century Dutch warehouse in the old town.

"The only things that came in straightaway were planes and helicopters to take the tourists out."

Meeting to help clean out a friend's house badly damaged in the tsunami, the expats quickly found themselves asking why nothing was happening to help their Sri Lankan hosts, some of whom were in serious need.

Galle was one of the worst-hit towns in Sri Lanka, though the huge 17th-century ramparts in the Fort district protected most of the expats' homes. "I sent an email to all my clients asking for funds," said Mr Robertson. "They are reasonably rich people and they responded immediately. My partner and I also put in $60,000 [£32,000] of our own money, which we will reclaim from the donations."

He added: "We've been buying food in Colombo and shipping it down here. It costs about $1,000 to fill a truck and bring it down - and that will feed a hell of a lot of people.

"For the first few days, we and the locals were the only people doing anything."

Used to organising things, taking the initiative and getting their own way in their former careers as investment bankers, media people and advertising agency executives, the expats quickly established a network of offices and storage spaces in the old town, outpacing the sluggish response of the official aid agencies.

They have department heads, a secretariat and a medical centre, together with a chill-out room complete with abstract artwork and free papayas, for stressed volunteers. Several large storage spaces in the Fort are now filling up with food parcels, spades and other hardware needed to get the area back on its feet.

"We went out to all the displaced persons' camps and asked people what they wanted," said Mr Robertson. "Then we went and bought it.

"There is quite a lot of organisation, although there have also been a few temper tantrums along the way."

Another leader of the group, Alex Barrett, an investment surveyor formerly from Chelsea, said that the expats had the crucial combination of local knowledge and western resources.

But he added: "We will carry on for as short a time as possible, until the official aid guys are providing an adequate service."

The aid agency consists of about 40 western volunteers - 80 per cent of them British - plus dozens of local helpers, many of whom have lost families and friends. "They've been so good to us and it's nice to help them back," said Mr Thompson.