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 When a 9.15-magnitude quake opened a fault line deep beneath the
ocean on Dec. 26 a decade ago, it triggered a wave as high as 17.4
meters (57 feet) which crashed ashore in more than a dozen
countries, wiping some communities off the map in seconds.
Memorials were held in the worst-affected countries - India,
Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia - where monks, imams and priests
held ceremonies to honor those who perished.
Hundreds gathered in Indonesia's Aceh province, many bursting into
tears as poems and songs were heard and a montage was screened
showing the devastation from a disaster that killed 126,741 people
in Aceh alone.
"It seems there's no bigger lesson to Aceh than this. It is as if
the souls of the dead are still with us," said provincial governor
Zaini Abdullah, formerly a prominent figure in a long-running
separatist conflict the tsunami helped end.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the memorial brought him to tears
but he took solace in a peace deal that proved adversity could bring
people together to reconcile differences.
 Mass prayers were held late on Thursday at Banda Aceh's Grand
Mosque, one of a few buildings that withstood the waves.
"Allah kept his house unscathed," said Azman Ismail, the Great Imam
of the Masjid Baiturrahman mosque.
Relatives of victims also prayed at the graves of loved ones in
Hambantota, Sri Lanka, where 677 Muslim families were relocated
after the tsunami destroyed their village. Some 40,000 people were
killed in Sri Lanka, but heavy rain in Hambantota forced the
cancellation of memorial events there on Friday.
Fisherman Tuan Ilyas Idrees, who lost 10 family members, was deep in
prayer after finding his dead mother's grave close to a coconut tree
by a mosque.
VILLAGES FLATTENED
Idrees tearfully said his entire village was wiped out.
"I ran to my house to save my mother and others, but in just five
minutes, there was no house at all," Idrees said.
"We buried hundreds of bodies."
The restored train Samudra Devi, or "Ocean Queen", made a special
journey in Sri Lanka on Friday in memory of the 1,270 people killed
when it was thrown off its rails by the waves.
Big crowds also gathered and laid wreaths at Thailand's tsunami
memorial park in Ban Nam Khem, a fishing village destroyed by the
waves. Family members wiped away tears as they placed flowers next
to a remembrance wall with a plate bearing the names of those who
died.
Some 5,395 people were killed in Thailand, among them about 2,000
foreign tourists. Swedish policemen visited graves of some of the
more than 300 unidentified victims. Almost 3,000 people remain
missing.
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Eighty percent of Thailand's victims were killed in the province of
Phang Nga, where a decade ago experts from 39 nations gathered to
identify bodies in what became the world's biggest international
forensics investigation. About 700 people carrying flowers and
banners marched from the beach where the wave smashed against
India's southern Tamil Nadu coast to a black granite memorial,
stopping by a Christian shrine to pray for the dead.
In coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, shops were closed and many
fishermen stayed ashore as a mark of respect for the 6,000 who died
there while Christian hymns were sung and verses read from the Koran
and Hindu texts at an inter-faith ceremony.
Illaycha, who lost five children, was inconsolable as she lit a
candle. "I'm praying to the gods that they should take care of them
in heaven," she said.
Tsunami escape drills were to be held to demonstrate the readiness
of Tamil Nadu's large fishing community.
But doubts linger about how ready countries on the Indian Ocean
really are for another giant wave. The past decade has seen more
than $400 million spent across 28 countries on an early-warning
system comprising 101 sea-level gauges, 148 seismometers and nine
buoys, but there is concern about the effectiveness and maintenance
of the system.
Some experts say complacency is leaving millions vulnerable and
governments still warn of the ever-present risks.
Thai Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said it was crucial people
were better informed and early warning systems functioned fully,
while Aceh's governor said lessons must be learned.
 "We have to prepare when disaster comes, so we can mitigate it fast
and right," Abdullah said.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, Dinuka
Liyanawatta in Pereliya, Sri Lanka,; Sunil Kataria in Nagappatinam,
India, Prapan Chankaew in Ban Nam Khem, Thailand and Sanjeev Miglani
in New Delhi; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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