The East-West Center announced yesterday that it is distributing the final amounts from a two-year, $507,000 fund-raising effort to help victims of the deadly Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed miles of coastal villages.

The tsunami relief fund was established with the help of First Hawaiian Bank just hours after the calamity struck on Dec. 26, 2004. Donations came in from private citizens, businesses and schools around the world.

The East-West Center funneled money to nonprofits operating in the hardest-hit spots, helped rebuild schools and replace lost supplies, and awarded scholarships to 50 students in Aceh, Indonesia, to finish their teacher training in Jakarta so they could return home to replace educators lost in the disaster, according to a news release.

East-West Center alumni chapters in the region, especially in India and Sri Lanka, were helped local organizations repair or replace lost school equipment, and supply new fishing nets and boats "to contribute to the ongoing livelihood of the affected communities," said Karen Knudsen, director of the center's Office of External Affairs.

Through contact with educational institutions in the area, several ongoing programs were established, including teacher- and scholar-exchange programs with the affected areas. The East-West Center has made it possible for scholars from the Ar-Raniry State Institute of Islamic Studies in Aceh, who had never been to the United States, to come to Hawai'i for brief periods to study social and economic issues.

The center-sponsored Schools-Helping-Schools initiative aided 90 orphaned students in Aceh and gave bicycles to 80 students in Thailand who were resettled far from their schools as a result of the tsunami.

Other East-West Center activities include an assessment of possible human-rights issues in the wake of the tsunami and publishing of a book of photographs by award-winning photographer Marco Garcia, titled "Hope for Renewal," that features images of the devastation and recovery efforts.

A separate tsunami relief effort by the Rotary Club of Windward O'ahu distributed more than $52,000 in aid. The money went to buy five boats for fishermen in devastated areas, paid for tools for 50 local carpenters to help in the rebuilding, and bought 160 solar-powered lamps for Sri Lankan families, so their children can study at night.