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The 16th anniversary of the massive Indian Ocean tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 9.1, is being marked on December 26.
The 100-foot high tsunami is one of the largest ever recorded and it killed over 230K people in South Asia. With earthquake epicentre near Sumatra, the tsunami had hit Thailand, SL, India, Indonesia.
People in Indonesia scheduled memorials in the province of Aceh, where more than 1,25,000 people died as entire villages were swept away by waves rising as high as 57 feet.
Since the tsunami, the area has been rebuilt with some 25K buildings created inside high risks zone. The government has built schools, residential complexes, commercial buildings, and govt buildings.
In Thailand, around 5,300 people lost their lives and December 26 has been designated as National Accident Prevention Day.
In India, more than 10,000 people lost their lives in parts of Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Andaman-Nicobar islands. The most affected area in India was the Andaman-Nicobar islands.
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, 35,000 people were killed after the tsunami hit the island nation in the Indian Ocean.
Learning from the unprecedented natural disaster, the Ministry of Earth founded the ITEWS at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad in October 2007.