When the 2004 December 26 tsunami hit the southern coast of Sri Lanka, the members of the department were busy among organizational work of an international workshop in which there were about 50 foreign participants and invited speakers. Two Computer Science professors from France who came to the workshop with their two children had been unfortunate victims of the tsunami when the family were on a private trip to Yala. Professor Denis Caromel and Professor Isabelle Attali both volunteered to conduct two main courses in the workshop who had travelled to Sri Lanka utilizing their own funds. Only the husband - Professor Caromel survived after the tsunami. Professor Caromel and Professor Attali's contribution and specially their recommendation had been a key factor for University of Ruhuna to get the main grant for the workshop from the UNESCO and the International Centre for Pure and Applied Mathematics (CIMPA), France.
In search of the Caromel family the members of the Mathematics department initiated a voluntary program which in parallel had extended to support the victims of tsunami in the Southern Province. Having been touched by these events and also with continual inclination to help specially children and students in need, the members of the department had officially formed the ESFoRuM in 2004, incorporating all the previously commenced activities together with the Patronship of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ruhuna.