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Roundup: Asian-Pacific Countries Observe Tsunami Anniversary (1)

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 09:00 CST

Roundup: Asian-Pacific countries observe tsunami anniversary (1)

HONG KONG, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The first anniversary of tsunami was observed Monday in serveral disaster-affected Asian-Pacific countries, including the most severely-hit ones -- Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

-- Indonesia

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Monday inaugurated the National Commemoration of the Tsunami by delivering a keynote speech to 500 participants, including special envoys from a dozen of donor countries.

Susilo emphasized that the commemoration aimed to seek global unity against natural disasters like the tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, which left more than 200,000 people dead or missing along the coast of the Indian Ocean.

The president noted that after darkness comes light, all the newly built villages, roads, bridges, markets, schools, ports and hospitals would be living monuments of the solidarity.

Susilo confirmed the reconstruction efforts of Aceh and promised to donor countries that "you will see progress."

The Indian Ocean tsunami left over 169,000 Acehnese dead or missing and half a million homeless.

-- Thailand

On Monday, thousands of Thais and foreign guests and tourists participated in the one-year tsunami memorial ceremony, which went on in seven venues of four southern provinces simultaneously, that are Phangnga's Ban Namkhem and Bang Liang beach, Phuket's Patong beach, Kamala beach and Mai Khao morgue, Krabi's Phi Phi island and Trang's Chao Mai beach.

In the afternoon, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra laid the foundation stone for the Tsunami Memorial at Lamru National Park in Phangnga.

Interfaith Memorial Services were held on Monday evening in the province with the participation of five religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism.

Over 2,000 people Monday gathered at Ban NamKhem Tsunami Memorial Park in Thailand's southern Phangnga to express their condolence and sympathy to the victims of last year's catastrophe.

Strings of foreigners and locals flowed to a wall of remembrance on which the names of Thais who died in raging waves as well as the villages they belongs to were engraved. Names of foreign countries whose nationals were killed in the disaster were also carved onto the 80-meter-long wall according to alphabetical order.

The Dec. 26 tsunami, which has lashed six provinces along the southwestern coastline of Thailand, killed some 5,495 people, injured 8457 with 2817 still missing.

-- Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government held a ceremony on Monday to commemorate the first anniversary of the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people and displaced more than 800,000 in the Indian Ocean island country.

In the ceremony held in Peraliya village (about 90 km from Colombo) where last year's massive tsunami swept a train off the tracks and killed more than 1,000 passengers, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse called on the nation to unite together to face new challenges.

The president also launched in the ceremony a new tsunami rebuilding program called "Jaya Lanka" (A Triumphant Sri Lanka) to coordinate all tsunami-related work, which will be carried out under his personal direction.

Before the president delivered his speech, the participants observed a two-minute silence and the national flag was flown at half-mast to pay tribute to nearly 40,000 people killed by last year's tsunami. (More)

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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