Asia mourns tsunami dead 20 years on

AFP English

Mourners gather as ceremonies are held across Asia to remember the thousands who died two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean, in one of the world's worst natural disasters.

Transcript

00:00Music

00:28At that time, I didn't know it was a tsunami.

00:30After my father came, he cried and said,

00:35Your mother is no longer here.

00:37Everything is gone.

00:39We were hit by a tsunami.

00:41It was all mud on my father's body.

00:44There were three mass graves.

00:46One in Ujung Bate, one in Luele, and one here.

00:50I've been to all three places.

00:52And my heart was beating here.

00:54When I came, I visited, I prayed.

00:58At night, my parents came.

01:02And this is the location.

01:04Music

01:14It's been 24 years since the tsunami hit.

01:22On December 26, 2004,

01:30There was a large-scale earthquake in Kulu Lanka.

01:39Music

02:03I'm still afraid.

02:05I'm still afraid.

02:07I'm glad they came.

02:10They haven't forgotten us.

02:12I'm glad.

02:14Music

02:16It was my first time working in a disaster like this.

02:21I've never seen anything like it.

02:23But as the months went by, out of the sadness,

02:27I got to see and learn the power of community,

02:31the power of humanity,

02:34the power of strangers becoming brothers and sisters to help one another.

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