In a photo essay edited by KARISHMA SINGH and STEPHEN COATES, Reuters’ photographers captured the destruction after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people…
Today – 26th December – marks 15 years since a 9.1 magnitude quake off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries.
When the quake opened a faultline deep beneath the Indian Ocean, it triggered a wave as high as 17.4 metres, wiping some communities off the map in seconds.
A view of Meulaboh town on 1st January, 2005, after the massive earthquake and powerful tsunami. PICTURE: Dudi Anung-State Secretariat/Handout via Reuters/File Photo
Northern Aceh province bore the brunt of the disaster, where a total of 128,858 people were killed, according to statistics compiled by the government and aid agencies.
Day by day, the death toll rose, as bodies littered the streets, waiting to be collected, and others continued to wash ashore, decaying among piles of debris.
An Indonesian policeman and a volunteer worker carry the body of a tsunami victim past the Rahmatullah mosque which was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in the village of Lhoknga, southwest of Banda Aceh, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, on 23rd January, 2005. PICTURE: Reuters/Kimimasa Mayama/File Photo
Hospitals and morgues struggled to cope with injured and bewildered victims and bloated corpses.
Over 570,000 people were displaced and 179,000 buildings and homes destroyed in Indonesia as the wave swallowed large parts of the coastline. Massive reconstruction aid in Banda Aceh has since rebuilt a new city on top of the ruins.
A woman wanders around the rubble in the commercial centre of the town of Galle, southern Sri Lanka, on 30th January, 2005 after it was flattened by the 26th December tsunami. PICTURE: Reuters/Desmond Boylan/File Photo
Sri Lanka was the next worst-affected country with a death toll of about 40,000, while in Thailand almost 5,400 people were killed including many foreign tourists.
In India, nearly 42,000 people, or close to 10,000 families, were rendered homeless by the waves that struck islands off the eastern coast. More than 3,500 people were killed and nearly 9,000 died on the mainland, mostly in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Onlookers look at damaged fishing trawlers stuck on a bridge following the tsunami, in Nagapattinam port, south of the Indian city of Madras on 29th December, 2004. PICTURE: Reuters/Punit Paranjpe/File Photo
The tsunami garnered an enormous international response, with an estimated $US13.6 billion in official aid and private donations pledged for the recovery.
Those killed in 2004 received no formal warning of the approaching waves and had almost no chance to get out of the way.
An aerial view of Khao Lak, north of the Thai island of Phuket, on 30th December, 2004, following the deadly tsunami. PICTURE: Reuters/Luis Enrique Ascui/File Photo
Since then, millions of dollars have gone into a vast network of seismic and tsunami information centres, setting up sea and coastal instruments and erecting warning towers.
More than $US400 million has been spent across 28 countries on the early-warning system, comprising 101 sea-level gauges, 148 seismometers and nine buoys.
Indian tsunami survivors rush for food in Nagapattinam, south of the southern Indian city of Madras, on 31st December, 2004. PICTURE: Reuters/Punit Paranjpe/File Photo
But doubts linger about how ready countries on the Indian Ocean really are for another giant wave.
Some experts say complacency about the maintenance of the system is leaving millions vulnerable and governments still warn of the ever-present risks.
