Ceremonies in hardest-hit locales draw local and foreign people to remember lost loved ones
Thai and foreign mourners place flowers in remembrance of the victims of the 2004 tsunami at an event on Patong beach on Thursday. (Photo: Patong Municipality)
People in provinces along Thailand’s Andaman coast held remembrance events on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami that killed 230,000 people across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries.
Remembrance and religious ceremonies took place at Mai Khao Cemetery and on Patong beach in Phuket, at the Tsunami Memorial Park at Ban Nam Khem in Phangnga, and at the Sailfish Sculpture on Ao Nang beach in Krabi.
At the Mai Khao Cemetery, local and foreign mourners observed a minute’s silence. Merit-making ceremonies performed according to Buddhist, Islamic and Christian rites were followed by the laying of flowers at a wall of the memorial park.
Wasawat Hongsasupasakul, deputy chairman of the Mai Khao Tambon Administrative Organisation, read a message from Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to mark National Disaster Prevention Day, which falls on Dec 26.
Ronny Karlsen, a Norwegian man who survived the 2004 tsunami, said he had learned about the event and wanted to participate to remember those who perished.
“Things that happened on that day still remain in my memory,” he said.
Noi Rakthong, a 52-year-old Thai woman, said she and her Norwegian husband owned a restaurant on Karon beach when the tsun
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