A family orphaned in the Boxing Day Tsunami are using their business to fund an orphanage in their parent’s honour.

A Christmas break to Sri Lanka in 2004 for the Forkan family turned to tragedy when the tsunami, which claimed 300,000 lives, crashed into the island, killing parents Sandra and Kevin.

Miraculously their children, Rob, then 17, Paul, 15, Matty, 12, and Rosie, eight, all survived the devastation, and almost eight years on have spoken of their loss and how it has pushed them to give to others.

Rob, now 24, said: “After our experiences we have learned there is more to life than money and being part of the corporate rat race. Some of the things I saw will stay with me forever. This is important to us as a way of something good coming out of the tragedy.”

Using Rob’s business Gandys flip-flops, established last year, the brothers, who live in Brixton, are supporting orphans in Goa, India, and hope to open an orphanage in their parents’ honour by Christmas 2014.

The footwear includes a tiny footprint reflecting Sandra’s favourite poem, Mary Stevenson’s Footprints in the Sand.

Rob said: “We are selling in 30 boutiques in the UK and have had interest from Turkey and Italy. By the 10th anniversary we hope to know how much we can invest and afford to put towards the orphanage.”

When the tsunami hit in the early hours of Boxing Day, Rob and Paul were sharing a cabin while their parents and younger siblings were in a neighbouring room.

Reacting instantly the boys scrambled on to the roof, Rob hauling his brother up against the rising tide.

He said: “It is instinct, adrenalin. All our travelling in Goa and what we had seen gave us an advantage. We didn’t panic.”

Only when the water level fell did they discover their parents had sacrificed themselves to save their siblings.

Holding Matty and Rosie above their heads, they were able to place them in a tree before being swept away.

Rob said: “They had been married for 20-something years, lived together worked together. I couldn’t imagine if one had survived and not the other. You try not to think about it.”

The Forkan children, who before the tragedy spent five years traveling northern India, returned to the UK to rebuild their lives with elder siblings Marie and Jo.

Rob said: “There was talk of building the orphanage in Sri Lanka but it is India that we have all our fondest memories. That’s not to say we won’t look at helping in Sri Lanka in the future.”

Visit www.gandysflipflops.com.