On Thursday, December 26, it was the 20th anniversary of the South Asian tsunami. Survivors and relatives of the victims held ceremonies in Asia to mark the occasion. They lit candles to mourn the over 226,000 people who lost their lives in the tsunami back then. This disaster remains one of the deadliest in the world.
On December 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the coastal region of Aceh province in Indonesia, triggering a massive tsunami with waves as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet) that hit the coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and nine other countries.
According to data from the global disaster database EM-DAT, the South Asian tsunami resulted in a total of 226,408 deaths.
Indonesia was the hardest hit, with the death toll accounting for over half of the total fatalities. On Thursday, many survivors and relatives of the victims gathered at a mass burial site in the village of Ulee Lheue, sprinkling flower petals on the stones in the cemetery. Tears were shed, and hugs were shared as they remembered the approximately 14,000 individuals buried there.
Some relatives who came to pay their respects at the site were unsure if their loved ones were buried there, as many were laid to rest without proper identification.
Indonesians later visited a larger mass grave site and held collective prayers in the capital of Aceh province, Banda Aceh.
In Aceh province, Indonesia, over 100,000 people perished. The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque sounded an alarm, marking the start of a series of memorial events across the region including Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
According to Reuters, Nurkhalis, 52, shared his heartbreaking story of losing his wife, children, parents, and in-laws in the disaster, with none of their bodies ever found. “Although time has passed, the same feelings haunt us on this day, especially for those who lost their family members in the tsunami,” he said in the cemetery.
Hasnawati, a 54-year-old teacher, recalled the devastating scene inside a destroyed mosque in Indonesia, saying, “I thought it was the end of the world. On a Sunday morning, we were all together, happy and laughing, and then a disaster struck, and everything disappeared. I can’t find the words to describe it.”
Baharuddin Zainun, a 70-year-old Indonesian survivor and fisherman, said, “My children, wife, father, mother, and all my siblings were swept away by the tsunami.”
Several heavily affected countries like Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand also began holding commemorative events and religious rituals along the seashores.
The victims of this tsunami include many foreign tourists who were celebrating Christmas on the sunny beaches at the time. Thus, this tragedy touched homes far and wide across the globe.
In Thailand, where half of the over 5,000 victims were foreign tourists, the hardest-hit village of Ban Nam Khem held commemorative events.
Relatives of the victims were in tears as they placed flowers and wreaths on a curved wall shaped like a tsunami and bearing plaques with the names of the deceased. Napaporn Pakawan, 55, who lost her sister and niece in the tragedy, expressed her grief at the site, saying, “I feel discouraged. I come here every year. Time flies, but time feels slow in our hearts.”
Apart from the official commemorations by the Thai government, unofficial seaside vigils are also expected to take place.
In Sri Lanka, where over 35,000 people perished, survivors and relatives of the victims gathered to mourn nearly 1,000 individuals who lost their lives when a passenger train derailed due to the waves.
Somalia saw nearly 300 fatalities, Maldives over a hundred, and Malaysia and Myanmar also reported dozens of casualties.
(Reference to reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.)