Two Years On, Asia Remembers Tsunami Victims

[Guest guest]

BALI (26 Dec 2006): Thousands of people fled beaches on Indonesia's

resort island of Bali in a tsunami drill on Tuesday, kicking off

remembrances across Asia two years after devastating waves crashed

into coastlines, killing 230,000 people and leaving millions

homeless.

 

Elsewhere, survivors and mourners were marking the anniversary by

visiting mass graves, lighting candles along beaches, observing a

moment of silence and erecting warning towers in hopes of saving

lives in the future. Some volunteers were preparing to plant

mangroves, saying they were key to protecting coastal communities.

 

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, causing

death and destruction in a dozen countries. Walls of water two

stories high swept entire villages to sea in Indonesia and Sri

Lanka, submerged luxury resorts and fishing communities in Thailand

and destroyed thousands of homes in India.

 

In India, where 18,000 are believed to have died in the killer

tsunami, interfaith ceremonies were being held. In Thailand,

ceremonies will be held along the Andaman coast with Buddhist

prayers to remember more than 8,200 killed. Balloons will be

launched and candles lit along beaches once again filled with sun-

seeking tourists.

 

But as authorities prepared to open a cemetery for hundreds of

unidentified tsunami victims, a new scandal emerged. The US and six

other Western nations said as much as 60 per cent of the US$1.6

million set aside to help identify those who died may have been

misused, an unnamed US diplomat was quoted as saying in The Nation ,

an English-language daily published in Thailand. The money appears

to have gone toward travel and other miscellaneous costs, he said,

calling for an investigation.

 

In Sri Lanka, the resurgence of a civil war has added to the misery

of survivors and slowed efforts to rebuild -sparking criticism on

Tuesday from outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who urged

Tamil Tiger rebels and the military to lay down their arms.

 

"No one could have prevented the tsunami's wave of destruction," he

wrote in a statement. "But together, we can stem the tide of

conflict, which threatens once again to engulf the people of Sri

Lanka."

 

Hindu and Buddhist temples were ringing bells to mark the exact time

the first wave hit followed by two of silence to remember the 35,000

people killed in the island nation and – looking to the future –

officials also erected the first of 100 coastal warning towers.

 

In Malaysia, where 69 people were killed, volunteers were preparing

to replant mangroves, saying the tsunami demonstrated how important

the coastal forests can be in protecting communities.

 

SOURCE: The Times of India

URL:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Asia_remembers_tsunami/articleshow

/927769.cms