Christians Offer Prayers as World Mourns 1st Anniversary of Tsunami

|PIC1|Christians have led people across the world in marking the first anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami with mourning and prayers.

Around the world moments of silence were observed in memory of those devastated by the horrific tsunami, which has been recorded as one of the world’s worst natural disasters in the modern era.

Over the past year huge aid and relief operations have taken place across the regions affected by the tsunami, but despite all efforts the pain and sorrow felt by millions remains strong.

Approximately 230,000 people were killed by the tsunami or are now assumed dead across 13 Indian Ocean countries, with almost three-quarters of them coming from Indonesian’s Aceh province on the north of Sumatra, report Reuters.

In Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand survivors and relatives of the dead joined national leaders and foreign dignitaries for memorials taking place today.

|PIC2|On Boxing Day 2004 a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, which lasted 8 minutes created a wave 10 metres high that travelled and crashed into land as far away as East Africa.

Today, one year after the tsunami, Reuters report that 80 percent of the two million people displaced by the incident are still living in tents, temporary shelters or are staying with friends or family away from their shattered homes.

Memorials did not just take place with Christians, but also large numbers from other religions paid their respects.

In Sri Lanka’s southern town of Peraliva, religious leaders chanted blessings at the site where 1,000 people when their train was destroyed by the massive tsunami.

The President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse led a two minutes' silence and placed a floral wreath at the foot of a cresting wave-shaped memorial for the 35,000 who died in the tsunami.

In Indonesia a tsunami warning system was tested for the first time today, which sounded warning sirens on a beach in West Sumatra, where organised evacuation routes have been created for any future tsunamis.

Since the disaster, Indian Ocean countries have been cooperating with the U.N. Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission to set up national and regional warning systems.