Victim’s families mark tsunami anniversary

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – Parents prayed at mass graves for children swept away by last year’s tsunami, and Western tourists returned to palm-fringed beaches to lay wreaths for lost friends. There was a minute of silence in Indonesia today to mark the moment the first tsunami waves struck the country’s coastline.

The low-key ceremonies came as the region formally marked today’s anniversary of the killer 30-foot waves that crashed ashore in a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean, leaving at least 216,000 people dead or missing.

“After I come here, I somehow feel satisfied,” said Dasniati, a mother who traveled 15 hours to lay flower petals on a grave that holds the remains of 47,000 victims of the devastation in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

Though she has no way of knowing for sure, she thinks her 10-year-old daughter was among those whose bodies were dumped in the pit in the days after the tsunami. “I pray that Allah accepts her at his side,” said Dasniati, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Flags were lowered to half-staff in Sri Lanka while bells sounded today in churches, mosques and temples. Hundreds in India were to walk silently to a mass burial ground. In Thailand, thousands floated lanterns out to sea.