インドネシア・スマトラ沖地震から２０年 各地で追悼式

【バンダアチェ（インドネシア）ＡＦＰ＝時事】インドネシア・スマトラ沖地震とインド洋大津波の発生から２６日で２０年となった。大きな被害を受けたインド洋周辺の国々で、追悼式が始まった。（写真はインドネシア・スマトラ沖地震とインド洋大津波の発生から２０年を迎えたインドネシア・アチェ州にある集団墓地を訪れた遺族）
　地震は２００４年１２月２６日、インドネシアの西端沖で発生した。マグニチュード（Ｍ）９．１の巨大地震で、それに伴って発生した大津波は、インドネシアからソマリアまで１４か国を襲い、計２２万人が犠牲となった。
　震災から２０年となったインドネシア・アチェ州のモスクでは、地震発生時刻にサイレンが３分間鳴らされ、スリランカ、インド、タイなど津波で被災した国々で追悼式が始まった。
　モスクを訪れていた教師（５４）は、「まるで終末の日のようだった」と述べ、「日曜朝、家族全員が一緒に笑っていたところに突然災害が襲い、すべてが消えた。言葉では表現できない」と当時を振り返った。
　インドネシアは最も被害の規模が大きく、１６万人以上が命を落とした。そのうち１０万人がアチェ州での被害だった。
　タイでは５０００人以上の犠牲者が出た。そのうちの半数が外国人観光客だった。同国で最も被害が大きかったバンナムケム村では早朝から追悼行事が執り行われた。
　涙を流す遺族たちは犠牲者の名前が刻まれたプレートが掲げられた、波の形をした壁に花やリースをささげた。
　スリランカでは、３万５０００人以上の犠牲者が出た。そのうちの約１０００人は、津波により起きた旅客列車の脱線事故で命を落とした。コロンボから約９０キロ南方の事故現場でも追悼式が執り行われた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/12/26-17:23）

Tearful mourners prayed on Thursday as ceremonies were held across Asia to remember the 220,000 people who were killed two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean in one of the world's worst natural disasters.
A 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's western tip on December 26, 2004, generated a series of waves as high as 30 metres (98 feet) that pummelled the coastline of 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 its 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's gone. I can't describe it with words.
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.
I kept chanting God's name. I looked for them everywhere, she said.
There was a moment where I realised they were gone. I felt my chest was in pain, I screamed.
- 'Dismay' -
The victims included many foreign tourists celebrating Christmas on the region's sun-kissed beaches, bringing the tragedy into homes around the globe.
The seabed being ripped open pushed waves at double the speed of a bullet train, crossing the Indian Ocean within hours.
In Thailand, where half of the more than 5,000 dead were foreign tourists, commemorations began early in Ban Nam Khem, its worst-hit village.
Tearful relatives laid flowers and wreaths at a curved wall in the shape of a tsunami wave with plaques bearing victims' names.
Napaporn Pakawan, 55, lost her older sister and a niece in the tragedy.
I feel dismay. I come here every year, she told AFP.
Times flies but time is slow in our mind.
After an interfaith ceremony, Italian survivor Francesca Ermini, 55, thanked volunteers for saving her life.
I think all of us (survivors), when we think about you, it makes us feel so hopeful, she said.
Unofficial beachside vigils were also expected to accompany a Thai government memorial ceremony.
- Train vigil -
A total of 226,408 people died as a result of the tsunami, according to EM-DAT, a recognised global disaster database.
There was no warning of the impending tsunami, giving little time for evacuation, despite the hours-long gaps between the waves striking different continents.
But today a sophisticated network of monitoring stations has cut down warning times.
In Sri Lanka, where more than 35,000 people perished, survivors and relatives gathered to remember around 1,000 victims who died when waves derailed a passenger train.
The mourners boarded the restored Ocean Queen Express and headed to Peraliya -- the exact spot where it was ripped from the tracks, around 90 kilometres (56 miles) south of Colombo.
A brief religious ceremony was held with relatives of the dead there while Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim ceremonies were also organised to commemorate victims across the South Asian island nation.
Nearly 300 people were killed as far away as Somalia, as well as more than 100 in the Maldives and dozens in Malaysia and Myanmar.
Dorothy Wilkinson, a 56-year-old British woman who lost her partner and his parents to the tsunami in Thailand, said the commemorations were a time to remember the best of those who died.
It makes me happy to come... a bit sad, she said.
It's celebrating their life.
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