Indonesians mark 2 decades since the tsunami that killed 230,000

BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA —  Two decades after a catastrophic tsunami destroyed her village, Tria Asnani still cries when she recalls how she lost her mother while trying to escape the giant waves. Asnani, now a schoolteacher, was 17 at the time. Her father, who was a fisherman, never returned home from sea. She doesn’t know how she survived. “I cannot swim. I could only rely on dhikr (Islamic prayer).” On Dec. 26, 2004, a powerful 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries, reaching

Read Full Article