Asia remembers tsunami victims, ponders over unkempt promises
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Three years after Indian Ocean nations were lashed by a massive tsunami, several sombre ceremonies were held yesterday to remember the 225,000 people whose lives were lost in more than a dozen countries. Thousands of unidentified victims were buried in mass graves hastily dug in the aftermath of what remains one of the worst natural catastrophes in modern times. In all there was much compassion for the dead but also a desire not to forget how much remains to be done for survivors.
In Indonesia, mass prayers were held outdoors and at mosques across Aceh, the province at the northern tip of Sumatra Island where some 168,000 lives were claimed by the quake-triggered walls of water.
About a thousand people came to a village on the outskirts of Calang, one of the areas of Aceh obliterated in the disaster.
“I came here to pray together with other residents. I pray for my wife and my child who died in the tsunami, hoping they are now resting in peace,” said Alimudin, a 61-year-old retired local government official.
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf urged everyone to “learn from the tragedy to improve our piety towards God. [. . .] Let us leave behind all our tears and work together to rebuild Aceh, hoping that one day we can repay our debt to the international community.”
International donors have in fact pledged more than US$ 7 billion to help reconstruction in Aceh, a process that will still require a lot of time.
Mr Irwandi, a former rebel fighter who spent time in a jail that was destroyed by the tsunami, was elected in December of last year following a historic peace agreement with the central government that ended 29 years of war.
Sri Lanka, which suffered 31,000 deaths, marked the anniversary by opening a showpiece bridge in the southern coastal town of Matara, a gift of South Korea.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa observed two minutes of silence at 9.25 am, the moment when the first giant waves lashed the island nation’s coastline.
In India, where more than 16,000 people died, hundreds of survivors, mostly poor fishermen and their families, held a procession in Nagapattinam district in southern Tamil Nadu state, where more than 6,000 people died. Thousands of people thronged local beaches to pray.
Tens of thousands of Indians lost their homes in the disaster and rights groups say more than 20,000 tsunami-affected families are still waiting for new housing.
In thailand Buddhist monks gathered by the Andaman Sea for a blessing ceremony in memory of the 5,400 people killed in the kingdom, half of whom were foreign holidaymakers.
Hundreds, including many foreigners, sat silently holding red roses as monks chanted blessings then walked out onto Phuket's Patong beach and cast the flowers into the sea.
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16/02/2005
