CRI听力:Tsunami-hit Nations Remember the 2004 Disaster

In Indonesia's Banda Aceh region in northern Sumatra, the worst hit area in the tsunami, hundreds of people have gathered for a tearful ceremony.

Poems and songs have been read out.

A montage has also been screened, showing the devastation from the disaster.

Well over half of all the victims of the tsunami, some 170-thousand people, were killed in Aceh.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has led the tributes.

"All ambassadors, thank you all again for your participation 10 years ago until now on in Aceh, Aceh cannot go forward without all your support, all your participation."

Meanwhile, in a small fishing village in neighboring Thailand, people there have paused to remember some 14-hundred people killed when the massive wall of water tore through their homes.

Thailand's Interior Minister, General Anupong Paochinda, says lessons need to be learned from the disaster.

"The tsunami warning system is important. We need to make it so that it's able to give early warning and for us to be prepared ahead of time. Everyone needs to be knowledgeable about the danger of natural disasters, including flooding, landslides, tsunamis and earthquakes."

In the following 10-years after the tsunami, around 400 million US dollars has been spent across 28 countries on a tsunamic early-warning system.
 
However, experts are still expressing concern about the region's preparedness for another tsunami, as millions in coastal areas are still vulnerable.

In Sri Lanka, the Ocean Queen Express passenger train is at the center of the commemorative events.

The overcrowded train was hit by the tsunami, killing 17-hundred people, in what remains the world's largest rail disaster.
At the same time, survivors of the disaster are pausing to reflect on what took place 10-years ago.

Jillian Searle was on the Thai island of Phuket with her two children when the tsunami hit.

"Every Christmas and every birthday I just think you are so lucky because things could be so different. Yeah, putting your life into perspective and just realizing how lucky you are."

Searle's oldest son managed to survive the impact of the water by clinging to a door frame for two hours before eventually being rescued.

A magnitude-9 earthquake hit off the northwest coast of Indonesia, creating a giant wave which hit 14 different countries, wiping some communities off the map in just seconds.

The Indian Ocean tsunami is one of the most deadly natural disasters in recorded human history.

For CRI, I m Wang Mengzhen.