Asian nations remember the 230,000 killed in 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

Associated Press, Tue December 26, 2006 03:51 - Associated Press Writer - Entire villages were swept to sea in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh and in Sri Lanka luxury resorts and fishing communities were submerged in Thailand, and thousands of homes destroyed in southern India.

``I cannot forget ... it feels like it happened just yesterday,'' said Zaldi Setiawan in Aceh, where an estimated 167,000 people died, including his two children, who were ripped from his arms by the waves.

``I can still imagine their faces,'' he said, joining scores of other Acehnese in prayers at mass graves that contain tens of thousands of corpses.

The drill on Indonesia's resort island of Bali which involved warnings sent from the capital to radios along the beach occurred hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the east and was as much about raising awareness as testing technology deployed in the country.

Sirens wailed as crowds, many of them school children, briskly walked inland from the shore, accompanied by Indonesia's minister of research and technology and a handful of foreign tourists.

``The biggest challenge is working with the people to make them aware,'' said German geologist Harald Spahn, who is helping Indonesia set up its alert network. ``It is a really complex job that many people underestimate.''

In Thailand, ceremonies were held along the Andaman coast with Buddhist prayers to remember more than 8,200 killed, many of them foreign holiday makers. Balloons were to be launched and candles lit along beaches once again filled with sun-seeking tourists.

Sharon Howard, a 39-year-old British tourist who lost her fiancee and two children in the disaster, attended one memorial but said being there made her ``very sad, very sad.''

``I miss them. They were my life,'' she said, tears pouring down her cheeks. ``I wish I could turn back time and they could all come back.''

In Sri Lanka - , the resurgence of a civil war has added to the misery of survivors and slowed efforts to rebuild sparking criticism from outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who urged Tamil Tiger rebels and the military to lay down their arms.

``No one could have prevented the tsunami's wave of destruction,'' he wrote in a statement. ``But together, we can stem the tide of conflict, which threatens once again to engulf the people of Sri Lanka - .''

Temple bells chimed to mark the exact time the first wave crashed ashore, and all cars and trucks came to a standstill for two minutes. Looking to the future, the first of 100 warning towers was erected on a beach.

In India, where another 18,000 are believed to have died, ceremonies were somber and subdued. A dozen fishermen watched gulls circle overhead in one hard-hit hamlet, staring at the sea and telling stories about villagers who died. Hundreds more gathered as the day went on, some throwing flowers into the water as others lit camphor sticks.

Volunteers were replanting mangroves in Malaysia, where 69 people died, saying they were key to protecting coastal communities.

The 2004 tsunami generated an unprecedented outpouring of generosity, with donor pledges reaching some US$13.6 billion (euro10.3 billion), but many of those homeless complain they are stuck with poorly built structures that leak, are termite-infested or located in flood zones.

Corruption has also marred the process, with several private organizations forced to delay projects or rebuild homes after contractors and suppliers ran off with the funds.

Thailand faced fresh questions about possible graft on Tuesday.

Seven Western nations sent a letter to Thai police saying up to 60 percent of the US$1.6 million set aside to help identify the dead in that nation appears to have been misused.

The money may have gone toward travel and other miscellaneous costs, the letter said, calling for an investigation.