As time passes since Asia's killer tsunami wiped out close to 290,000 people from Sumatra to Somalia, communities continue their efforts to rebuild their lives. The tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004, the day after Christmas. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, said it was an ''unprecedented global catastrophe'' that required an ''unprecedented global response''. And the world responded.

Some aspects of the relief effort have gone well, some have not. IPS stands committed to our journalistic duty to provide our readers with insight into how communities are piecing themselves back together after the horror.