Beachside memorials and religious services have been held across Asia to mark the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 220,000 in one of modern history's worst natural disasters.
The devastating December 26, 2004, tsunami, triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake, struck a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean rim.
It eradicated entire coastal communities, decimated families and crashed over beaches full of tourists the morning after Christmas.
Survivors waded through a horror show of corpse-filled waters.
As part of Friday's solemn commemorations, survivors, government officials, diplomats and families of victims gathered in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and elsewhere.
Moments of silence were planned in several spots to mark the exact time the tsunami struck.
Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen, reporting from the Indonesian Aceh province, worst affected by the tsunami, said an official ceremony there would would be attended by the vice president.
"There will be prayers, songs and poetry but most importantly most of the survivors will have their own commemoration services. They will have their prayer sessions in their villages, sometimes villages very near to the sea where they can remember what happened ten years ago," she said.
Aceh was the closest to the earthquake epicentre. At least 170,000 people were killed there.
Sri Lanka will mark the anniversary with a symbolic ride of a train the tsunami had derailed, killing 1,270 passengers.
The train will be powered by the same locomotive and feature five of the original carriages.
In Thailand, 5,395 people were killed, among them about 2,000 foreign tourists.
Almost 3,000 people remain missing...............................http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia-pacific/2014/12/asia-tsunami-anniversary-2014122612932890841.html
26/12/14
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