CONSTRUCTION group MMP has been given £30,000 towards its appeal to help survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster.

A donation from builders' merchants Jewson took the total raised by the County Durham company to more than £132,000.

Staff at the Newton Aycliffe firm aim to collect £200,000 to build a child and community centre in the Phangnga district of Thailand, north of Phuket, in Ban Nam Khem village.

Directors are negotiating to buy a disused squid-drying factory for £35,000, which will be demolished and used as the site for the centre.

Jewson raised its contribution by asking employees across the UK to pledge the equivalent of one hour's salary to help tsunami survivors. The firm doubled the £15,000 raised.

Jewson managing director Peter Hindle said: "The tsunami touched us all and many of our employees wanted to support the rescue effort."

Michael O'Connell, chairman of the MMP group, flew out to Thailand in March to assess the project.

He said: "It's especially important for us at MMP that so many of our colleagues in the building industry have chosen to help us with this project as it will show what our industry is capable of and how well placed we are to be able to help with the process of reconstruction and recovery after disasters such as this."

Design and pre-fabrication of the Ban Nam Khem Community Centre is due to start at MMP next month.

It will be shipped out to Thailand in September and construction is expected to begin on site in October.