When the massive tsunami devastated southern Asia in late December, Daniel Smith decided to take action.

So he traveled with his father, Richard, and a small group of other Kansans in late January to Sri Lanka, where they set up a makeshift eye and medical clinic.

“It basically was just me and a couple of translators in a room where we saw 160 to 170 people over three days,” Smith said.

Smith is a Lawrence optometrist, his father a retired Topeka railroad worker. They were part of a relief volunteer effort under Global Hope Network International, a humanitarian aid organization dedicated to helping minorities and people around the world.

Smith treated a variety of eye problems and gave out eyeglasses. He also treated victims who had open wounds.

“There were some that had lost their glasses when their belongings were swept away, and we were happy to meet their needs,” Smith said. “But we started seeing a lot of people who were poor and needy but who were not tsunami victims. We didn’t really feel we could not help them.”

Smith, 38, was amazed at the devastation and the victims he saw.

Dr. Daniel Smith, right, inspect's Cassidy Farwell's eyes at his office in Lawrence. Smith, a local optometrist, recently returned from running his own clinic in Sri Lanka for victims of December's earthquake and tsunami.

“It was very sobering,” he said. “The first man I talked to had lost his mother, his wife and his 7-year-old daughter. The only reason his 11-year-old daughter survived was because she climbed a tree and watched it all take place.”

The Smiths and a group from the Hope Community Church in Andover also bought clothing to restock a Sri Lankan store, a motor and fiberglass for a boatsman and a taxi for a taxi driver.

“Their emphasis was getting people back to work so they could make a living for themselves,” Smith said.

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Smith, who has worked in Lawrence since 1997, commended his staff for helping to raise money and obtain supplies for his trip. He said several pharmacies and other Lawrence businesses chipped in, supplying him with eyeglasses and medications for the clinic.

Though Smith said he had no qualms donating money to international relief organizations, his advice to anyone who wants to help tsunami victims is to go to the recovering countries personally and work.

Smith plans to travel to Romania in August, where he hopes to set up a clinic for orphans.

“If at all possible, go yourself and meet the people and meet individual needs,” he said. “By the time the money goes through the government and through the protocols, it’s just going to take a long time before the people see any.”