It has been 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.

People prayed and visited mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass grave. Tsunami in the Indian Ocean hit the region in one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.

Many cried as they laid flowers at the mass grave in the village of Ulee Lheue, where more than 14,000 unidentified tsunami victims are buried. It is one of several mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province, one of the areas hardest hit by the 9.1-magnitude earthquake and its powerful tsunami.

“We miss them and still don’t know where they are. All we know is that every year we visit the mass grave in Ulee Lhue and Siron,” said Muhamad Amirudin, who lost two children 20 years ago and never had the same. they found their bodies.

Amirudin, who visited his grave with his wife, said, “This life is temporary, so we do our best to be useful to others.”

Another man who was there, 52-year-old Nurkhalis, told Reuters news agency that his wife, children, parents and in-laws were destroyed by the tsunami.

“Although time has passed so far, the same feeling haunts us in this history, especially those who lost their families at that time,” he said.

On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people in dozens of countries stretching as far as East Africa. Waves reaching heights of 100 feet swept away almost everything and everyone in their path.

It was about 1.7 million people displacedmainly in the four worst affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

More than 170 thousand people lost their lives in Indonesia alone.

20 years on, survivors in Indonesia are still grieving the loss of loved ones from the massive wave that destroyed buildings as far away as the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

Hundreds of people gathered to pray at the Baiturrahman Mosque in the center of Banda Aceh. Sirens sounded throughout the city for three minutes to mark the time of the earthquake.

Indonesia located along the fault lines that form Pacific Ocean “Ring of Fire”, particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis. He suffered Another disaster in 2018 When the Sulawesi earthquake caused huge waves, killing thousands of people.

In 2004, the infrastructure in Aceh was rebuilt and is more resilient than before the tsunami. Early warning systems are installed in coastal areas to alert residents of incoming tsunamis, providing critical time to seek safety.

Reconstruction efforts have been made possible by the support of international donors and organizations, which have provided significant funds to help the region recover. Schools, hospitals and necessary infrastructure destroyed by the natural disaster have been rebuilt.

In Thailand, people gathered for a memorial service in Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing village in Phang Nga province, which bore the brunt of the country’s devastating wave.

The tsunami killed more than 8,000 people in Thailand, including many missing, leaving a deep mark on the country’s history. About 400 bodies remain unclaimed.

Mourners consoled each other with tears while laying flowers in front of the village’s tsunami monument. About 300 people attended the modest ceremony where prayers were recited by Muslims, Christians and Buddhists.

Urai Sirisuk said she avoids the seaside memorial park for the rest of the year because the loss of her 4-year-old daughter still stings when she remembers it.

“I have a feeling that the sea has taken my child away. I am very angry about it. I cannot put my foot in the water,” he said.

But she said: “I still hear his voice in my ear, calling me. I can’t leave him. So I have to be here for my child.”

In India, hundreds of people gathered at Marina Beach in Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. They poured milk into the sea to propitiate the gods and offered flowers and prayers for the dead as drums played in the background.

According to official data, 10,749 people died in India, including about 7,000 people in Tamil Nadu alone.

“It’s been 20 years since the tsunami,” said Sadayammal, 69, who uses one name. “We are here to honor the people who lost their lives.”

In Sri Lanka, survivors and relatives of tsunami victims gathered in the coastal village of Perelia to lay flowers at a memorial to the nearly 2,000 passengers who died when the Sea Queen train was hit by waves. Only a few dozen are believed to have survived.

Anura Ranjith joined the mourners to pay their respects to her younger sister Anula Ranjani and her 9-year-old daughter who were passengers on the train. Ranjith never heard from them after that day.

“I’ve been looking for them everywhere for years, still no information. Their loss is a great sadness and pain for me. I’m still grieving.”

In total, more than 35 thousand people died as a result of the tsunami in Sri Lanka. People across the country observed a two-minute silence for those who lost their lives on Thursday.

There was no warning at the time, but in the years following the 2004 disaster, a tsunami warning system put in place to help protect the region. To detect undersea earthquakes, a network of seismometers, along with tide gauges and ocean buoys, can pick up early signals of tsunami-causing shocks, and improved communications networks help relay those warnings to officials around the world.