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Prayers mark tsunami anniversary

Inconsolable: An Acehnese woman weeps as she remembers her family members who died in the devastating 2004 tsunami, during mass prayers for the tsunami victims in Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Thursday

Hotli Simanjuntak (The Jakarta Post)
Banda Aceh
Fri, December 27, 2013

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Prayers mark tsunami anniversary Inconsolable: An Acehnese woman weeps as she remembers her family members who died in the devastating 2004 tsunami, during mass prayers for the tsunami victims in Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Thursday. The tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. (JP/Hotli Simanjuntak) (JP/Hotli Simanjuntak)

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span class="inline inline-none">Inconsolable: An Acehnese woman weeps as she remembers her family members who died in the devastating 2004 tsunami, during mass prayers for the tsunami victims in Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Thursday. The tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. (JP/Hotli Simanjuntak)

The ninth anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Aceh in 2004 was commemorated across the province on Thursday with prayers at tsunami monuments and visits to mass graves where victims of the disaster are buried.

In Punge Blang Cut, Banda Aceh, thousands of people gathered to pray at the beached power-plant barge PLTD Apung 1.

People had begun to flock to the site from morning. Dressed in white, many were overcome by the sermon delivered by preacher Buya Andi Ihsan who reminded them of the devastating tsunami that had killed so many of their loved ones.

'€œThere was so much immorality committed in Aceh that God punished the people as a warning about their sins,'€ the preacher said.

He described the power-plant barge that was washed up in Punge Blang Cut by the 2004 tsunami as similar to Noah'€™s Ark, which was also stranded when God sent a disaster because people were caught up in sin and error.

'€œLet us then repent so that God will not send another disaster to Aceh,'€ Buya said.

He also called on worshipers to pray for the maintenance of peace in Aceh, which had been brought about in 2005 following the tsunami.

'€œToo much blood has been shed for peace in Aceh. Please maintain the peace so it will last for eternity,'€ Buya said.

Apart from monuments, the locations of mass graves for tsunami victims were also crowded with visitors wanting to pray for their loved ones who were killed in the 2004 disaster.

'€œI never fail to visit every year during the tsunami commemoration to pray for my family members who were killed in the disaster and who might have been buried here,'€ Emi of Ulee Lheue said.

She expressed confidence that some of her family members who were killed in the tsunami were among those buried in Ulee Lheue and Siron Aceh Besar, the two biggest mass graves that the provincial administration dug for tsunami victims.

Hundreds of other smaller mass grave sites were also crowded with visitors during the tsunami commemoration.

Emi said that although the tsunami happened nine years ago, it still felt like it had only just occurred for her. She said she was so traumatized by the disaster that every time an earthquake struck her region she immediately ran for her life.

She said she could not count on the tsunami early warning system in her region, arguing that the system did not fully detect tsunamis.

'€œI just count on my instinct to save my life whenever there'€™s an earthquake. I seldom receive warnings from the administration whether an earthquake has the potential to cause a tsunami,'€ Emi said.

Fitriani, also of Ulee Lheue, expressed the hope that in the future the government would be much quicker to act in an emergency situation by providing enough information to people especially those living in coastal regions.

'€œIn terms of reconstruction, it has been done well. Almost all the regions devastated by the tsunami have already been rebuilt,'€ Fitriani said.

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