Survivors and families of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami 20 years ago visited mass graves, lit candles and consoled each other in ceremonies across Southeast and South Asia on Thursday, killing about 230,000 people. .
On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the coast of Aceh province in Indonesia generated a tsunami, causing waves up to 17.4 meters (57 ft) high that hit the coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and nine other countries. ,
In Indonesia, where the total death toll was more than half, hundreds of survivors and family members of victims visited a mass grave in the village of Uli Lehue, and scattered flower petals on stones marking the graves. Many people were crying hugging their family members.
Some people were not sure their loved ones were there, he said, because many were buried in an unknown manner.
Noorkhalis, 52, said he lost his wife, children, parents and in-laws in the tsunami and none of their bodies were found.
He said at the mass grave, “Even though time has passed by now, the same feeling haunts us on this date, especially those of us who lost our families at that time.”
A memorial was also held in the courtyard of Aceh’s Grand Baiturrahman Mosque, where hundreds of people sat in silence for three minutes before praying together.
‘The sea took away my daughter’
Sri Lanka observed the day by observing two minutes of silence at the Peraliya Tsunami Memorial Statue in Galle city, the country’s disaster management center said in a brief statement.
In Tamil Nadu, India’s worst-hit state, residents lit candles and said prayers for those killed two decades ago.
Thailand marked the anniversary by holding religious rites for those killed near the village of Ban Nam Khem in southern Phang Nga province.
Hundreds of people visited the Tsunami Wall, a memorial site next to the ritual site, to pay respects to lost loved ones.
“I felt like the waves took away my daughter, I was so angry about it,” said resident Urai Sirisuk, 62, who lost his 4-year-old daughter.
Orai said she would not go near the sea, just about 50 meters (yards) away.
She said, “I can’t bring myself anywhere near it, not even with my feet in the sand. I wouldn’t come here if it wasn’t necessary, never. The sea took my daughter away from me.”
Phang Nga province was one of the hardest-hit provinces in Thailand, with the disaster killing 5,400 people there, including many foreign tourists.
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