Tearful mourners gathered on Thursday at remembrance ceremonies across Asia, lighting candles and offering prayers for the 220,000 victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The disaster followed a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia’s western coast on December 26, 2004, unleashing waves up to 30 meters high that battered 14 countries, from Indonesia to Somalia.
In Indonesia's Aceh Province, where more than 100,000 people were killed, a siren rang out at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to kick off a series of memorials around the region, including in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, which the tsunami hit hours later.
People recounted harrowing tales of horror and miraculous survival as giant waves swept in without warning, carrying debris including cars and destroying buildings in their wake.
"I thought it was doomsday," said Hasnawati, a 54-year-old teacher who goes by one name, at the Indonesian mosque that was damaged by the tsunami.
"On a Sunday morning, where our family were all laughing together, suddenly a disaster struck and everything was gone. I can't describe it with words," she told AFP.
At Aceh's Siron mass grave, where around 46,000 people were buried, emotional relatives recited Islamic prayers in the shade of trees that have since grown there.
Khyanisa, a 59-year-old Indonesian housewife, lost her mother and daughter, searching in vain for them in the hope they were still alive.