Twenty Years ago today – Remembering the more than 230,000 people who died following the Indonesian Tsunami 26th December 2024
Indonesia and Thailand are marking 20 years since a tsunami caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people in one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
People started gathering in prayer today and visiting mass graves in Aceh, one of the worst-hit areas by the Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami. Many wept openly at the mass grave in Ulee Lheue village, where more than 14,000 unidentified and unclaimed tsunami victims are buried. It is one of several mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province.
On December 26, 2004, more than 230,000 people, mostly in southern Asia, were killed by a 30+ metre high tsunami triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean near the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, and Thailand sustaining massive damage.
Indonesian officials estimated that the death toll in the country alone ultimately exceeded 200,000, particularly in northern Sumatra’s Aceh province.
Some 1.7 million people were displaced, mostly in the four worst-affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
Tens of thousands were reported dead or missing in Sri Lanka and India, a large number of them from the Indian Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory.
The low-lying island country of Maldives reported more than a hundred casualties and immense economic damage. Several thousand non-Asian tourists vacationing in the region also were reported dead or missing.
The lack of food, clean water, and medical treatment—combined with the enormous task faced by relief workers trying to get supplies into some remote areas where roads had been destroyed or where civil war raged—extended the list of casualties.
Long-term environmental damage was severe as well, with villages, tourist resorts, farmland, and fishing grounds demolished or inundated with debris, bodies, and plant-killing salt water.
India – Thousands of kilometres away, several Indian fishermen and a large number of civilians who had gone to Velankanni, Tamil Nadu district to celebrate Christmas, died due to the disaster.
Photo: An elephant which belongs to forest ministry removes debris Monday Jan. 10, 2005 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
MY MEMORY – Serving in the Hong Kong Police, dispatching police Disaster Victim Identification Teams (along with many countries) to help the Indonesian authorities. Friends (tourists from Hong Kong) who remained unaccounted for over several days luckily found alive.
Were you or your friends affected in any way?