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Asian nations remember tsunami
26/12/2006 10:34 - (SA)
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| Dorothy Wilkinson of Surrey, England, at one of the tsunami anniversary ceremonies, weeping in remembrance of her fiancee who was killed in Khao Lak, Thailand, when massive tsunami waves struck the area. (David Longstreath, AP) |
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Bali - Thousands of people fled beaches in Indonesia's largest-ever tsunami drill on Tuesday as nations across Asia remembered the moment two years ago when devastating waves crashed into coastlines and killed 230 000 people.
Elsewhere, survivors and mourners visited mass graves, lit candles along beaches, observed a moment of silence and erecting warning towers in hopes of saving lives in the future.
But as Thai authorities prepared to open a cemetery for unidentified tsunami victims, foreign donors alleged that nearly a million dollars intended for DNA sampling and other testing appears to have been misused.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that ripped apart the ocean floor off Indonesia's Sumatra island on December 26 2004 spawned giant waves that fanned out across the Indian Ocean at jetliner speeds, killing people in a dozen countries and leaving millions homeless.
Villages swept to sea
Entire villages were swept to sea in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, luxury resorts and fishing communities submerged in Thailand and thousands of homes destroyed in southern India - where commemorations were small and subdued.
A dozen fishermen watched gulls circle overhead in one hard-hit Indian hamlet on Tuesday, staring at the sea and telling stories about villagers who died. Hundreds more gathered as the day went on, some throwing flowers into the water as others lit camphor sticks.
"I cannot forget the events of two years ago, it feels like they happened just yesterday," said Zaldi Setiawan in the worst-hit region of Aceh on Indonesia's Sumatra island.
Like scores of other Acehnese, he prayed on Tuesday at mass graves where tens of thousands of people were buried in the days after the disaster, remembering his two children that were ripped from his hands by the waves.
"I can still imagine their faces," he said.
The drill on Indonesia's resort island of Bali - which involved real-time warnings sent from the capital to radios along the beach - was as much about raising awareness as testing technology deployed in the country hardest hit two years ago.
Nearly 167 000 of those killed were from Aceh province - hundreds of kilometres west of Bali - where tens of thousands of people still live in temporary homes.
Alert network
Sirens wailed as crowds, many of them school children, briskly walked inland from the shore, accompanied by Indonesia's minister of research and technology and a handful of foreign tourists.
"The biggest challenge is working with the people to make them aware," said German geologist Harald Spahn, who is helping Indonesia set up its alert network. "It is a really complex job that many people underestimate."
In Thailand, ceremonies were being held along the Andaman coast with Buddhist prayers to remember more than 8,200 killed, many of them foreign holiday makers. Balloons will be launched and candles lit along beaches once again filled with sun-seeking foreign tourists.
- AP
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