Reply #5: Thousands gather on beaches to mourn the day the wave came

[Clara T]

Thousands gather on beaches to mourn the day the wave came

· Speeches and silence mark Boxing Day disaster
· Presidents and people pray for 230,000 victims

John Aglionby in Khao Lak
Tuesday December 27, 2005
The Guardian


Coastal communities across the Indian Ocean yesterday marked the first anniversary of the Boxing Day tsunami that left 230,000 people dead, with ceremonies of tearful remembrance and hopeful thanksgiving.

They were joined by thousands of foreigners, many of whom were survivors of the disaster, relatives of those who died and aid workers involved in what has become the world's largest ever recovery and reconstruction operation.

Commemorations began in Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra's northern tip. It was the closest place to the epicentre of the 9.2-magnitude quake which triggered the tsunami, the first place to be struck by the deadly waves and the region that suffered the most deaths and damage. More than 132,000 people were killed, 37,000 were reported missing and 600,000 were left homeless along a 500-mile stretch of coast.

Against a backdrop of just a few dozen houses rising out of the rubble of thousands of obliterated homes, Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, pressed an alarm at 8.16am, the time the tsunami first crashed on to the coast.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1673994,00.html