Thousands of people flock to remembrance services in countries including Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka to pay tribute to those killed by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami
Mourners across southeast Asia laid wreaths and attended tearful memorial services on Friday to mark the 10-year anniversary of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed around 230,000 lives.
Entire families and vast swathes of coastline were obliterated on December 26, 2004 when a massive earthquake struck off Indonesia’s western tip triggering one of the deadliest natural disasters in living history.
The ferocious and sudden tectonic upheaval sent walls of water speeding towards coastal areas in 14 countries, claiming lives as far away as Kenya and South Africa.
“Today we think of all those for whom Boxing Day is no longer a celebration but the day they lost a loved one in the Indian Ocean tsunami,” said David Cameron, the Prime Minister.
On Friday, survivors flocked back to those same areas to remember the dead.
In Aceh, the Indonesian province where nearly 170,000 peope died, members of the
largely Muslim population packed into mosques for prayers and a major outdoor cermony was held in a 20-acre park.
“We are gathered here today to remember the historic disaster that took place on December 26,” Zaini Abdullah, Aceh’s governor, told a memorial in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. “As we know, it was one of the biggest to have ever happened on our Earth.”
The anniversary was both an opportunity to remember the dead and the need to protect the living, the governor added.
"This experience reminds us that Indonesia a place prone to natural disasters. We have to prepare when disaster comes, so we can mitigate it fast and right."
Asmaiyah, a 56-year-old cleric, was one of hundreds of outsiders who travelled to Banda Aceh for the anniversary events. “We want to show our support to our brothers and sisters in Aceh by attending the [tsunami] commemoration,” she told the Jakarta Post.
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In Thailand, where nearly 5,400 people died, including around 2,000 foreigners, Mark Kent, the British ambassador, was among those at an official memorial service in Phang Nga province.
Black clad officials, survivors and tourists gathered in Thailand’s Phang Nga province to say prayers and leave flowers around Police Boat 813 – a vessel that became a symbol of the catastrophe after being swept more than one mile inland by the tsunami. The boat has since become a tourist attraction and a site of pilgrimage for mourners.
"I'm praying to the gods that they should take care of them in heaven," a female griever named as Illaycha, who lost five children, told Reuters.
The Boxing Day catastrophe began at 7.58am local time on December 26 when a 9.1 magnitude “megathrust” quake tore through the seabed under the Indian Ocean.
The result was carnage on an almost unimaginable scale. Entire villages were pulverised by the tsunami generated by the earthquake, as walls of water, travelling as fast as commerical jets, slammed into coastal areas. At one point, rescue workers were pulling an estimated 3,000 bodies from the rubble of Banda Aceh each day
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