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Tsunami survivors mark first anniversary
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-24 19:24
Survivors launched a boat laden with flowers, candles and incense in the
first ceremony Saturday to mark one year since the Indian Ocean tsunami swept
away at least 216,000 lives in one of the world's worst natural disasters in
memory.
Peter Pruchniewitz, 68, who was swept from his hotel room and lost a friend
to the waves, returned from Zurich, Switzerland to attend the ceremonies. Asked
why, he said simply, "to remember."
Friends and family members of those British
killed in the Asian Tsunami attend a remembrance ceremony Saturday, Dec.
24, 2005, at Patong Beach in Phuket,
Thailand.[AP] | The commemoration in Thailand was the first of hundreds to be held on the
grim anniversary in the dozen countries hit by the earthquake-spawned waves last
Dec. 26.
Amid the mourning, survivors and officials were taking stock of the massive
relief operation and peace processes in Sri Lanka and Indonesia's Aceh province,
the two places hardest hit by the tsunami. In both cases, success has been
mixed.
At Bang Niang beach in Thailand's Phang Nga province, mourners including
Western tourists who were caught in the disaster placed offerings into a
brightly colored, bird-shaped boat that was floated into the Andaman Sea as
members of the Moken, or sea gypsy, tribe chanted and pounded drums.
The Moken believe the ceremony helps ward off evil spirits.
A private memorial service for British citizens and two candlelight
ceremonies were planned for later Saturday on the nearby island of Phuket.
Morgen tribe and Thai villagers pray before
floating a bird-shaped boat into the sea during a memorial ceremony for
the victims of last December tsunami at Bang Niang beach in Pang-nga
province, southern Thailand, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005.
[AP] | In hardest-hit Indonesia, workers on
Saturday scaled the minarets of the imposing 16th century mosque in the
provincial capital of Banda Aceh, replacing missing tiles and slapping on a
fresh coat of whitewash in preparation for special services on Monday.
Thousands of survivors have been rehoused in Aceh, but agencies say they are
only about 20 percent of the total number needing new homes and the landscape is
still one of devastation in many places.
But the tsunami did bring one positive side effect in Aceh 錕斤拷 it resulted in a
cease-fire between the government and guerillas that ended a decades-old
separatist conflict.
No such progress was made in Sri Lanka, where disputes over aid delivery and
an upsurge in violence blamed on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have dashed hopes
that the tsunami would end the country's long-running civil conflict.
On Saturday, troops patrolled the streets of the capital, Colombo, amid
boosted security for tsunami ceremonies.
Exactly one year ago Monday, the most powerful earthquake in four decades 錕斤拷
magnitude 9 錕斤拷 ripped apart the ocean floor off Sumatra island, displacing
millions of tons of water and sending giant waves crashing into Indian Ocean
coastlines from Malaysia to east Africa.
A dozen countries were hit by surging walls of water powerful enough to level
buildings and sweep small ships miles inland. Entire villages in Indonesia and
Sri Lanka were swept away, five star resorts in Thailand were swamped, and in
the Maldives whole islets temporarily disappeared.
Unidentified women stops to reflect and look
at fading photographs of Swedish victims of the Asian Tsunami Saturday,
Dec. 24, 2005, at the wall of remembrance in Phuket, Thailand. More than
500 Swedes were killed when the killer waves struck Thailand's beaches on
Dec. 26, 2004.[AP] | At least 216,000 people were
killed or disappeared in the waves, according to an assessment by The Associated
Press of government and credible relief agency figures for each country hit 錕斤拷
though the United Nations puts the number at least 223,000.
The true toll will probably never be known 錕斤拷 many bodies were lost at sea and
in some cases the populations of places struck were not accurately recorded.
Almost 400,000 houses were reduced to rubble and more than 2 million people
left homeless, the U.N. says. The livelihoods of 1.5 million were swept away.
The world responded with donor pledges of some $13.6 billion. Rebuilding has
started in some places, and fishing boats and seeds have been handed out to
kick-start ruined village economies.
But many refugee camps are still full and residents rely on aid handouts to
survive. Concerns linger about the pace of rebuilding.
Former President Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for tsunami recovery, said
much work remained to be done and the international community faces a "critical
challenge" in following through on its promises of help.
"One year ago ... millions of ordinary people across the globe rallied to the
immediate aid of communities devastated by the tsunami," Clinton said in remarks
prepared for the anniversary and published Saturday in the International Herald
Tribune.
"Now our collective challenge is to finish the job, to leave behind safer,
more peaceful and stronger communities."
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