A SWINDON couple who survived the Asian tsunami have pledged to send £50 a month to a man who helped rescue them.

Debbie Donkin, 44, and Pip Reeves, 47, of Old Town told the Adver how they thought they were going to die when the waves struck their hotel in Wadduwa, Sri Lanka.

But that did not stop them returning to the scene to hand out emergency food and water supplies to children.

And now they want to help Subash, a native man they befriended on holiday, who rushed to their hotel to help them and arranged for them to move to Sigriya, five hours inland.

Pip, a service planner at cleaning product firm Ecolab in the Murray John Tower, said: "He's expecting a child in March, his mother is sick and now he has lost his job. He doesn't want us to give him money but he needs it. He was a travel desk worker who arranged trips for tourists. Now all that's gone. We want to help him until he finds a job."

Debbie, a chef with Swindon caterers Aramark, said: "He was there when it happened and he said to us 'if there's anything I can do let me know'."

"He got a new hotel for us and sorted everything out. He was the only one there for us."

Subash relied on tourism to support his family. Working on commission he sometimes earned as little as £1 a day, Debbie said.

"It took us a long time to persuade him to accept the money because he is a proud man but he helped us and we want to help him," she said. "He is really, really going to suffer and whatever we do will not be enough.

"But even though he has nothing he has still been phoning us to make sure we are alright."

The couple have also collected bin bags of clothes to donate to Sri Lanka.

Debbie said: "I've got a big family and they have all rallied round to donate things which we're going to send over.

"I can't believe the response from people here. Everybody has been so generous but people need to realise that it is still not enough. It will take years for the people over there to recover.

"We will do anything we can to help."