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Siren's wail marks tsunami moment
RELATEDSPECIAL REPORTYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- A wailing siren followed by a minute of silence marked the moment a year ago Monday when the Indian Ocean tsunami crashed ashore in Asia, sweeping away more than 200,000 lives. In Indonesia's worst-hit Aceh province, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told mourners that it made a "huge difference" that so many countries came to the aid of the victims. But he said much more remained to be done in the ongoing reconstruction effort. Coastal communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and half a dozen other countries were devastated by the huge waves generated by a massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra on December 26, 2004. Survivors in those areas are still struggling with the economic and social trauma left by the tsunami, ranging from a loss of housing, livelihood and jobs, to the need for children to be educated. Issues such as land titles and community control of the rebuilding effort also need to be addressed. In Thailand, thousands of floating lanterns and wreaths were sent out to sea in ceremonies on Monday. Several hundred Swedes, including many survivors, gathered under a stormy sky at a resort on the devastated beach at Khao Lak in Phang Nga province Monday. They took part in a simple ceremony of songs and remembrance. (Full story) "Even the skies are crying with us today," Bishop Lennart Koskinen told his compatriots, who suffered 543 dead or missing in Thailand. And in the southern Sri Lanka town of Peraliya, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and Muslim priests chanted blessings at the site where 1,000 people died when their train was swept away by the tsunami, Reuters news agency reported. From Aceh to Phuket, from Sri Lanka to the fishing communities of India, and in many other parts of Asia, thousands of survivors, victims' relatives and officials held a minute's silence at the times the waves hit as part of commemoration ceremonies. The tsunami first smashed into Aceh, which was closest to the epicenter of the magnitude 9 earthquake that spawned the 10-meter-high (33-ft.-high) waves. About 130,000 people died in Aceh alone. President Yudhoyono set off a siren at 8:16 a.m. local time (1:16 a.m. GMT Monday, 8:16 p.m. ET Sunday) to mark the moment followed by one minute of silence. "Under the blue sky, we stand together as God's children," he told the assembled mourners and officials. "It was under the same blue sky exactly a year ago that mother earth unleashed the most destructive power among us," he said. The Indonesian leader said one result of the tragedy was that people had been brought together. He praised the "compassion, goodwill and generosity" of those who helped in the recovery and rebuilding operations. Earlier, in low-key ceremonies across the region, relatives prayed at the site of mass graves, and tourists returned to lay wreaths at tropical beaches. "After I come here, I somehow feel satisfied," said Dasniati, who traveled 15 hours to lay petals on a grave that holds the remains of 47,000 victims in Indonesia's obliterated Aceh province, The Associated Press reported. Though she has no way of knowing for sure, she thinks her 10-year-old daughter was among those dumped in the hastily dug pit in the days after the December 26 tsunami. "I pray that Allah accepts her at his side." European tourists who survived the tsunami were among those who returned to rebuilt resorts in Thailand to remember family and friends who did not. And in India, children dressed in white marched down a street where thousands were washed away. Around the region, the hardest hit countries marked the sad anniversary with official ceremonies and a minute of silence. (Watch the tsunami's effects, then and now -- 5:05) Flags were lowered to half-staff in Sri Lanka, with bells sounding in churches, mosques and temples. Hundreds in India will march silently to a mass burial ground. For many of those who decided to hold private ceremonies one day early, it was a somber Christmas. At least 216,000 people were killed or disappeared in the waves, according to an assessment by The Associated Press of government and credible relief agency figures for each country hit. The United Nations puts the number at least 223,000. The true toll will probably never be known -- many bodies were lost at sea and in some cases the populations of places struck were not accurately recorded. Outpouring of aidThe tsunami generated one of the most generous outpourings of foreign aid ever known, more money than could be spent in one year. About $13 billion (euro11 billion) was pledged to relief and recovery efforts, the U.N. says, of which 75 percent has already been secured. But the pace of relief and reconstruction has been criticized. Though local economies are quickly recovering, 80 percent of the 1.8 million people displaced by the disaster still live in tents, plywood barracks or the homes of family and friends, according to the aid group Oxfam International. Margareta Wahlstrom, the U.N.'s assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, urged survivors still waiting for houses and jobs to be patient. "If you don't do things well they will collapse in a couple of years," she told The Associated Press on Sunday. "If you don't take time to do proper planning, and ask people what they want ... then you are going to create new problems along the way." Survivors and officials, meanwhile, were taking stock of peace drives in Sri Lanka and Aceh, the two areas hardest hit. In Aceh, the tsunami served as a catalyst for the government and separatist rebels to end three decades of fighting, with each side saying they did not want to add to people's suffering. But in Sri Lanka, disputes over tsunami aid and an upsurge in violence have dashed hopes for an end to the long-running conflict. In Thailand on Sunday, Sigi Gsteu, of Feldkirch, Austria, wiped away tears as he remembered three close friends who died when the torrents flooded their Thai resort bungalow. "When a person is missing and you don't have [a body], you cannot say goodbye," he said, placing two simple wooden plaques engraved with his friends' names beneath a lone pine tree where the resort once stood. This is my "chance to say goodbye," he said. At a Catholic midnight Mass in a hotel on Thailand's Patong beach, the priest urged attendees to "remember all those who lost their lives in the tsunami." Outside, revelers partied with bar staff dressed in Christmas hats. After attending Christmas ceremonies on earthquake-shattered Nias island, Indonesian President Yudhoyono and his wife Ani wept as they hugged children at a home for more than 200 tsunami orphans in the Sumatran city of Medan. "We promise to rebuild the future for the Acehnese," Yudhoyono said. Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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