Ceremonies have been held in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere for the victims of one of history's deadliest disasters. More than 230,000 people were killed across a string of Indian Ocean nations.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/C. Mahyuddin
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In pictures: Asia commemorates the 2004 tsunami
In 2004, a day after Christmas, a powerful earthquake triggered a giant tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. For many, the memories of the devastation caused by the huge wall of water are still fresh.
Image: Reuters/P. Ravikumar
Indonesia hit first and hardest
Indonesia's Aceh province, which was closest to the earthquake, was the first to be hit by the tsunami shortly after the magnitude 9 quake struck on December 26, 2004. The northwest coast of Sumatra saw waves as high as 30 meters (100 feet) move up to 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) inland. More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia alone. Only larger and sturdier buildings, like this mosque, survived.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/str
Prayers and flowers at mass graves
Fifteen years on, thousands of people gathered close to mass graves for the victims in Banda Aceh to pray and leave flowers. Flags were set at half mask throughout the province and nearby, fishers canceled sea trips in their boats as a mark of respect to the dead. The bodies of many of the victims have never been found but years later, some remains continue to be discovered.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/C. Mahyuddin
Tourists in Thailand caught off guard
More than 8,000 people, including many tourists, were killed when the tsunami slammed into Thailand's southwestern coast. The region is a popular destination for many foreign and local tourists during Christmas. Beach resorts in Phang Nga, Phuket and the Phi Phi islands were some of the hardest-hit areas. Years after the disaster, the bodies of almost 400 victims remain unidentified and unclaimed.
Image: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images
Thai fishing village remembers lives lost
On Thursday, hundreds attended a tsunami memorial ceremony at Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing village that lost about half of its population of 5,000 when the waves rolled in. Tourists and locals attended the service at the Ban Nam Khem Tsunami Memorial Park, where they viewed a photo display of victims and laid flowers.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ Xinhua News Agency
Overcrowded train flipped from its tracks
Sri Lanka witnessed a death toll of 30,000 from the tsunami including more than 1,500 people who had crowded into this train from Colombo to the southern port city of Galle. Already overcrowded when the first wave struck, many nearby locals seeking sanctuary climbed on top of the carriages, only for the train to flipped off the tracks by subsequent walls of water.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Thian
Memorial train stops at Sri Lanka's ground zero
Fifteen years on, hundreds of people boarded a train in Sri Lanka's capital to take the same journey. The train to Galle stopped close to the exact location near Peraliya where the original train was overturned and dragged several meters. Several people brought flowers to lay at the tracks. Nearby is the Tsunami Memorial Buddha statue at Peraliya which has become a regular place of remembrance.
Image: NDR/B. Musch-Borowska
Boats pushed ashore in India
In India, over 12,400 people lost their lives when the devastating tsunami hit. The town of Nagapattinam (pictured above) was one of the worst-hit coastal areas in the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/G. Singh
Floral tributes in India
Thousands of people gathered at memorials in India on the anniversary of the disaster. People scattered flower petals in the Bay of Bengal and observed a minute of silence at the time the tsunami struck the coast fifteen years ago.
Image: Reuters/P. Ravikumar
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Asian countries on Thursday marked the 15th anniversary of the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami that left more than 230,000 people dead.
Ceremonies took place in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where on December 26, 2004, entire villages were flattened and more than 125,000 people perished in a series of giant waves.
In the city of Banda Aceh, thousands of people attended a commemoration event at the tsunami memorial museum; relatives of the dead and religious and community leaders presented flowers at mass graves.
"No words can describe our feelings when we tearfully saw thousands of corpses lying on this ground 15 years ago," acting Aceh Governor Nova Iriansyah said at another ceremony in Sigli, a town in Pidie district.
"And now, we can see how people in Aceh were able to overcome suffering and rise again, thanks to assistance from all Indonesians and from people all over the world.''
Memory of 2004 tsunami lingers
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Local media reported that fishers in Bireuen held a prayer ceremony on the beach and agreed not to venture onto the seas in their boats on Thursday as a mark of respect.
Events were also held for those left orphaned by the disaster when a 9.1 magnitude quake off the northern Sumatra island triggered huge tidal waves as high as 30 meters (100 feet).
Indonesia, which was the hardest hit, likely suffered a much higher death toll as many bodies were not recovered or identified.
In Thailand, where more than 5,300 people were killed, including tourists visiting resort islands in the Andaman Sea, officials held memorials at several locations, including at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Phuket and Phang Nga province.
A special tribute was made to Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn's nephew, Bhumi Jensen, who was last seen jet-skiing off the coast when the tsunami hit.
On Thursday evening, candlelit vigils were due to be held on several Thai beaches, attended by locals and holidaymakers.
An express train from Colombo to Galle stopped at exactly the point where, in 2004, the tsunami drowned some 1,500 onboard another trainImage: NDR/B. Musch-Borowska
In India, where more than 10,000 people died, survivors were also to hold memorial ceremonies.
Sri Lanka, too, held several events, including at its own monument to the dead between Colombo and the southern city of Galle, while all government ministries observed two minutes of silence for the victims, who included 35,000 people from the Indian Ocean island nation.
The 2004 earthquake and tsunami unleashed the energy equivalent to 23,000 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and reached as far as East Africa.
Since then, Indonesia continues to be rocked by earthquakes, including one last year that triggered a tsunami that hit Palu on Sulawesi island and killed 2,200 people and left thousands more missing and presumed dead.
The volcano-dotted archipelago is one of the most disaster-prone nations in the world due to its position straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.
