SCORES of people across East Lancashire have answered an international SOS call in the wake of the tsunami disaster which killed at least 123,000.

And people from the area are frantically posting messages on internet message boards to try and discover the fate of missing loved ones as the UK death toll reached 28.

A Thai woman is flying the flag outside her restaurant at half mast for those from her country who lost their lives in Boxing Day's disaster.

It remains unclear how many people from East Lancashire were caught up in the disaster -- although a specially-chartered BA flight from the Foreign Office is scheduled to bring people home to Heathrow this weekend.

MyTravel, which employs 300 people at Helmshore and Accrington, has revealed it had 5,400 customers, in the area affected by the Indian Ocean earthquake, and that seven were known to have died.

Those searching for information via the internet included friends of Shaw and Val Lingham from Burnley, who were in Sri Lanka.

Already the East Lancashire business community has begun rallying to help.

Blackburn Rovers joined other Premiership clubs which each donated £50,000 to the appeal.

And bosses at Forbes solicitors, Blackburn have donated £250 to buy a water tank for survivors.

More than £20 million has been pledged by the British public in less than 48 hours since the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched its Tsunami Earthquake Appeal.

The DEC has received more than 524,000 phone calls since the hotlines opened on December 28.

Just £5 will buy one family plastic sheeting a water container and purification tablets, £35 will provide a family with enough food for a week and £100 Zinc sheeting and timber to help rebuild two family homes. Buaphat Cryer, head chef of the Dao Siam Thai restaurant, inside the Judge Walmsley pub, Whalley, is flying the Thai flag at half mast.

Her husband Paul, 52, who owns the pub, said: "We have got Thai television on satellite and have been watching all the reports.

"Buaphat's family all live in Northern Thailand and the tsunami has only affected the very bottom south so they are all all right. You can't comprehend the devastation

"The whole of Thailand is in mourning and so we thought it was appropriate to show our respect by lowering the flag."

Former South Lancashire MEP Michael Hindley spent a year in Chennai (formerly Madras) and still writes a column for a newspaper in the area.

He said: "We stayed in a very pleasant hotel right on the beach and I can imagine it must have been swept away."