People gathered in prayer and visited mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass Indian Ocean Tsunami hit the region in one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
Many wept as they laid flowers at a mass grave in the village of Ulee Lheue, where more than 14,000 unidentified victims of the tsunami are buried. It is one of several mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province, which was one of the areas most affected by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and the large tsunami it caused.
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“We miss them and we still don’t know where they are. All we know is that every year we visit the mass grave of Ulee Lhue and Siron,” said Muhamad Amirudin, who lost two of his sons 20 years ago and never he hasn’t done it they found their bodies.
“This life is only temporary, so we try our best to be useful to others,” said Amirudin, visiting the grave with his wife.
Another man, Nurkhalis, 52, told the Reuters news agency that his wife, children, parents and in-laws were swept away by the tsunami.
“Although time has passed so far, but the same feeling haunts us on this date, especially those of us who lost our family at that time,” he said.
The powerful earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on December 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa. Waves rising up to 100 feet high swept away almost everything, and everyone, in their path.
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About 1.7 million people were displacedespecially in the four most affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia alone.
Although 20 years have passed, survivors in Indonesia are still mourning the loved ones they lost in the giant wave that crushed buildings as far away as the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Hundreds of people gathered to pray at the Baiturrahman Mosque in central Banda Aceh. Sirens sounded throughout the city for three minutes to mark the time of the earthquake.
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Indonesia, which is located along the faults that make up the Pacific “Ring of Fire”. it is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis. He suffered another disaster in 2018 when huge waves were unleashed by an earthquake in Sulawesi, killing thousands.
In 2004, Aceh’s infrastructure has been rebuilt and is now more resilient than before the tsunami. Early warning systems have been installed in coastal areas to alert residents of incoming tsunamis, providing crucial time to seek safety.
The reconstruction efforts were made possible by the support of donors and international organizations, which provided significant funds to help the region recover. Schools, hospitals and essential infrastructure destroyed by the disaster have been rebuilt.
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In Thailand, people gathered at a memorial ceremony in Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing village in Phang Nga province that bore the brunt of the devastating wave in the country.
The tsunami claimed the lives of more than 8,000 people in Thailand, including many missing, and left a deep scar on the nation’s history. Nearly 400 bodies remain unclaimed.
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Mourners shed tears and consoled each other as they laid flowers at the village’s tsunami memorial. About 300 people joined in a modest ceremony with Muslim, Christian and Buddhist prayers.
Urai Sirisuk said she avoids the seaside memorial park the rest of the year because the loss of her 4-year-old daughter still runs deep every time she remembers it.
“I have this feeling that the sea has taken my son. I’m very angry with him. I can’t even put my foot in the water,” he said.
But, she said, “I still hear her voice in my ears, calling me. I can’t leave her. So I have to be here, for my son.”
In India, hundreds of people gathered at Marina Beach in the southern city of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. They poured milk into the sea to propitiate the gods and offered flowers and prayers for the dead while drums beat in the background.
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According to official figures, 10,749 people were killed in India, including nearly 7,000 people in Tamil Nadu alone.
“It’s been 20 years since the tsunami,” said Sadayammal, 69, who uses one name. “We are here to honor the people who lost their lives.”
In Sri Lanka, survivors and relatives of tsunami victims gathered in the coastal town of Pereliya and laid flowers at a memorial commemorating nearly 2,000 passengers who died when their train, the Queen of the Sea, was hit by the wave Only a few dozen people are believed to have survived.
Anura Ranjith joined mourners to pay tribute to her younger sister, Anula Ranjani, and her 9-year-old daughter who were passengers on the train. Ranjith heard nothing from them after that day.
“I have been looking everywhere for them for years and there is still no information about them. Their loss is a great sorrow and pain for me. I am still grieving,” he said.
In total, more than 35,000 people died in Sri Lanka due to the tsunami. People across the country observed two minutes of silence on Thursday in memory of those who lost their lives.
There was little or no warning at the time, but in the years following the 2004 disaster, in tsunami warning system has been launched to help protect the region. A network of seismometers to detect underwater earthquakes, along with tide gauges and ocean buoys, can pick up the first signs of tremors that generate tsunamis, and improved communications networks help relay those warnings to officials around the world.