World stops for victims of deadly disaster
Thousands of people have held an emotional memorial in Indonesia's Aceh province, the epicentre of the Indian Ocean tsunami, as the world marks a decade since a disaster that took 220,000 lives and laid waste to coastal areas in 14 countries.
On December 26, 2004 a 9.3-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's western coast sparked a series of towering waves that wrought destruction across countries as far apart as Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Somalia.
Among the victims were thousands of foreign holidaymakers enjoying Christmas on the region's sun-kissed beaches, striking tragedy into homes around the world.
REMEMBERING THE BOXING DAY TSUNAMI
LIFE GOES ON IN ACEH
SURFER SAVED BY COCONUT TREE
SCIENTISTS HAVE MADE STRIDES SINCE 2004
Muslim clerics, tsunami survivors and rescue workers led around 7000 mourners gathered at Banda Aceh's black-domed Baiturrahman Grand Mosque for memorial prayers.
Malaysian cleric Syeikh Ismail Kassim said he and several hundred compatriots attended to show support for Aceh.
"We hope Aceh people will not waver as a result of the calamity that has befallen them," he told AFP.
Aceh governor Zaini Abdullah thanked Indonesians and the international community in his address at the mosque, one of the few buildings which withstood the wrath of the massive earthquake and ensuing waves which left 170,000 people in the country dead or missing.
"The tsunami had caused deep sorrow to Aceh residents from having lost their loved ones," he said.
"Sympathy from Indonesians and the international community has helped (Aceh) to recover," he added.
He also called on residents not to "dwell in our grief, so that we could rise from adversity and achieve a better Aceh".
In Meulaboh, a fishing town considered to be the ground zero of the tsunami -- where 35 metre-high waves flattened almost everything -- Indonesian flags were flown at half-mast as small groups of residents held night prayers at mosques.
The main memorials were planned for Friday morning, starting in Aceh which was hit first by the waves, then moving to Thailand where candlelit ceremonies are expected in the resort hubs of Phuket and Khao Lak.
There will also be events in Sri Lanka, including at the site where a train carrying 1,500 people was washed away, as well as in several European capitals to remember foreign nationals who perished.
- 'Like being in a washing machine' -
Many of the tsunami's victims died in dark, churning waters laden with uprooted trees, boats, cars and eviscerated beach bungalows, as the waves surged miles inland and then retreated, sucking many more into the sea.
Thailand saw 5395 people killed by the disaster -- half of them foreign holidaymakers.
British survivor Andy Chaggar was in a bungalow on Thailand's Khao Lak when the tsunami waves struck, taking his girlfriend's life and sweeping him inland.
"I came to in the water... there was glass, metal, there were pieces of wood, bricks, it was like being in a washing machine full of nails," he told AFP, on the same beach where he lost his girlfriend.
As the scale of the tragedy emerged, disaster-stricken nations struggled to mobilise a relief effort, leaving bloated bodies to pile up under the tropical sun or in makeshift morgues.
The world poured money and expertise into the relief and reconstruction, with more than $13.5 billion collected in the months after the disaster.
Almost $7 billion in aid went into rebuilding more than 140,000 houses across Aceh, thousands of kilometres of roads, and new schools and hospitals.
The vast majority of Indonesia's 170,000 victims perished in the province, among them tens of thousands of children.
But the disaster also ended a decades-long separatist conflict, with a peace deal between rebels and Jakarta struck less than a year later.
It also prompted the establishment of a pan-ocean tsunami warning system, made up of sea gauges and buoys, while individual countries have invested heavily in disaster preparedness.
But experts have cautioned against the perils of "disaster amnesia" creeping into communities vulnerable to natural disasters.
ABBOTT REMEMBERS BOXING DAY TSUNAMI VICTIMS
As countries in the Indo-Pacific commemorate 10 years on from the devastating Boxing Day tsunami, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has paid tribute to the many lives lost.
Australia pledged $1 billion in humanitarian funds and played a key role helping with the overwhelming task of identifying thousands of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunamis that killed 227,898 people across the region.
Commemoration ceremonies are planned in Thailand and Indonesia on Friday for the 10th anniversary.
Mr Abbott said that it was a time to remember the many victims of the tragedy, to pay tribute to those who were involved in the search, rescue and rebuilding efforts.
"Ten years on, we remember that the worst of times can bring out the best in people, and that the bonds of friendship between the countries of the Indo-Pacific have never been stronger," the prime minister said in a statement.
IMPACTS STILL FELT FROM THE BOXING DAY TSUNAMI
The rebuilding of lives damaged by the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami continues, says Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
Sir Peter, who as then Chief of the Australian Defence Force sent Australia's first wave of support to Indonesia at the government's behest, has recalled the sadness and shock he felt.
"Ten years on we think about the huge loss of life from this most terrible of natural disasters and remember the devastation and loss felt by countless families around the Indian Ocean," he said in a statement.
"We also remember the wonderful outpouring of generous support from ordinary Australians from all walks of life.
"It would be appropriate for us all to pause and reflect that the rebuilding of lives and livelihoods affected by the (tsunami) still goes on."
