By REZA SAIFULLAH and EDNA TARIGAN
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Individuals gathered in prayer and visited mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday to mark 20 years for the reason that large Indian Ocean tsunami hit the area in one in every of trendy historical past’s worst pure disasters.
Many wept as they positioned flowers at a mass grave in Ulee Lheue village, the place greater than 14,000 unidentified tsunami victims are buried. It’s one in every of a number of mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province, which was one of many areas worst hit by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and the huge tsunami it triggered.
“We miss them and we still don’t know where they are. All we know is that every year we visit the mass grave in Ulee Lhue and Siron,” stated Muhamad Amirudin, who misplaced two of his youngsters 20 years in the past and has by no means discovered their our bodies.
“This life is only temporary, so we do our best to be useful to others,” Amirudin, visiting the grave together with his spouse, stated.
The highly effective earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami that killed round 230,000 individuals throughout a dozen international locations, reaching so far as East Africa. Some 1.7 million individuals have been displaced, largely within the 4 worst-affected international locations: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
Greater than 170,000 individuals died in Indonesia alone.
Although 20 years have handed, survivors in Indonesia are nonetheless grieving the family members they misplaced to the large wave that flattened buildings all the way in which to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Tons of of individuals gathered to hope on the Baiturrahman Mosque in downtown Banda Aceh. Sirens sounded throughout town for 3 minutes to mark the time of the earthquake.
Infrastructure in Aceh has been rebuilt and is now extra resilient than earlier than the tsunami struck. Early warning programs have been put in in coastal areas to alert residents of incoming tsunamis, offering essential time to hunt security.
In Thailand, individuals 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 within the nation.
The tsunami claimed the lives of over 8,000 individuals in Thailand, together with many who stay lacking, leaving a deep scar within the nation’s historical past. Practically 400 our bodies stay unclaimed.
Mourners shed tears and comforted one another as they laid flowers on the village’s tsunami memorial. Round 300 individuals joined a modest ceremony with Muslim, Christian and Buddhist prayers.
Urai Sirisuk stated she avoids the seaside memorial park the remainder of the yr as a result of the lack of her 4-year-old daughter nonetheless cuts deep each time she’s reminded of it.
“I have this feeling that the sea has taken my child. I’m very angry with it. I can’t even put my foot in the water,” she stated.
However, she stated, “I still hear her voice in my ears, that she’s calling for me. I can’t abandon her. So I have to be here, for my child.”
In India, tons of gathered at Marina seaside within the southern metropolis of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state. They poured milk into the ocean to propitiate gods and supplied flowers and prayers for the lifeless as drums beat within the background.
In response to official knowledge, 10,749 individuals have been killed in India, together with almost 7,000 individuals in Tamil Nadu alone.
“It has been 20 years since the tsunami,” stated 69-year-old Sadayammal, who makes use of one title. “We are here to pay respects to the people who lost their lives.”
In Sri Lanka, survivors and kinfolk of tsunami victims gathered on the coastal village of Pereliya and laid flowers at a memorial that commemorates almost 2,000 passengers who died when their practice, the Queen of the Sea, was hit by the wave. Just a few dozen persons are believed to have survived.
Anura Ranjith joined the mourners to pay respects to his youthful sister, Anula Ranjani, and her 9-year-old daughter who have been passengers on the practice. Ranjith by no means heard from them after that day.
“I looked for them everywhere for years and still, no information about them. Their loss is a great sorrow and pain for me. I am still grieving,” he stated.
General, greater than 35,000 individuals died in Sri Lanka within the tsunami. Individuals throughout the nation noticed two minutes of silence on Thursday in reminiscence of those that misplaced their lives.
Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Related Press journalists Tian Macleod Ji in Phang Nga, Thailand, Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Aijaz Hussain in New Delhi, Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Eranga Jayawardena in Pereliya, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.
Initially Printed: December 26, 2024 at 4:19 PM EST
