More than 220,000 people were killed on December 26, the day after Christmas.
Prayers, vigils on the beaches, or even a train ride. Moving ceremonies began on Thursday, December 26, in several Asian countries to mark the 20th anniversary of the deadliest tsunami in history, which killed more than 220,000 people the day after Christmas. On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake generated a series of waves up to 30 meters high that struck the coasts of 14 countries around the Indian Ocean and reaching as far as Somalia. From Indonesia to India, via Thailand and Sri Lanka, Franceinfo brings you the tributes to the victims in images.
Children wave national flags during prayers at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP)
Aisha cries during a prayer with her parents at the Ulee Lheue mass grave in Bandah Aceh, one of the areas worst hit by the tsunami in Indonesia. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP)
Plastic bags containing flowers in water are sold at another Indonesian mass grave in Banda Aceh. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP)
On India's Pattinapakkam beach, flowers are scattered after women perform rituals during a ceremony. (R.SATISH BABU / AFP)
Women light candles on Pattinapakkam beach, India. (R.SATISH BABU / AFP)
A woman cries while performing rituals, still on Pattinapakkam beach. (R.SATISH BABU / AFP)
Sri Lanka's Ocean Queen Express has become in the collective memory a symbol of the devastation of the tsunami, when giant waves fell on the carriages. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP)
Every year since 2004, the Ocean Queen Express has stopped at the same place, in Peraliya, a peaceful village about 90 kilometers south of the capital Colombo, to commemorate the Sri Lankan victims. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP)
A woman prays at a mass grave near the beach in Peraliya, Sri Lanka. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP)
At Ban Nam Khem Memorial Park, Thailand, a woman places a portrait of a loved one. (LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
Flowers are placed on a wall at Thailand's Ban Nam Khem memorial. (LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
