In particular Danny and Kerrie Kennedy, proprietors of Dive Gizo on the island of Ghizo, without whom the outside world would have had no way of seeing scenes of damage and destruction soon after a tsunami smashed into the Solomon Islands April 2 2007.

In appalling circumstances, while participating in the rescue and recovery effort, helping staff and friends search for missing loved ones and assessing the damage to his own property and business, Danny found time to give provide eyewitness reports and e-mail these pictures to Reuters (via wife Kerrie in Sydney occupied nursing her convalescent father).

They are straightforward pictures which deliver the message and they were used prominently on front pages and TV news bulletins across the region and beyond. They are proof of the valuable contribution “citizen journalists” can make to the reporting of breaking news stories.

Anyone wishing to contribute pictures to Reuters can do so via You Witness News.