So Sad

[80s_Fan]

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Posted: 4:43 a.m. EDT (08:43 GMT)




Painful memories have been stirred Sunday, six months after the Asian tsunami that killed more than 176,000 people and triggered the world's largest humanitarian mission.

Another 50,000 people are still listed as missing following the December 26 disaster.

In its aftermath, more than 2.2 million people were either left homeless or forced to leave their homeland, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A 9.15 earthquake triggered the tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean. The massive waves destroyed hundreds of towns. Indonesia was the worst hit, with 166,000 people dead or missing in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Sri Lanka suffered more than 31,000 dead and 4,000 missing, while the toll in India stands at more than 10,700 dead and 5,600 missing.

On Thailand's Phuket island Sunday, tourists walked along the beach at Patong, where international forensic experts, police and investigators earlier held a service to remember those killed.

Thailand's toll was almost 5,400 dead and more than 2,800 missing.

While the physical devastation is still visible throughout the region, there are signs of healing.

In Banda Aceh, capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, 45-year-old Muhamed Ali, a carpenter, didn't know until just a few weeks ago that his 16-year-old daughter was alive.

"I am very happy because I finally can see my daughter again," he said when the pair were reunited June 22. But the happiness of the moment was dimmed when Handayani asked whether her mother and sister had been taken by the waves. Her father could only nod.

In the chaotic aftermath of the tsunami, thousands of children were separated from their families, presenting a huge challenge for officials and agencies in charge of their welfare.

In Galle, a city in southwestern Sri Lanka, fishermen once again have catches. A short distance away, miles of railroad track that was ripped apart has been repaired. And tourists are slowly returning.

Fourteen members of Vidanadurage Kumari's family were killed by the tsunami. The mother of four children still cooks in the open because her house was badly damaged.

"I wish my entire family had been killed by the tsunami. That would have been better than facing all our problems," she told CNN.

The Indian Ocean's monitoring systems fall short of the standard in the Pacific Ocean, which is wired to measure seismic shifts and has water gauges and buoys in place to monitor sea levels and then warn nations.

In the aftermath of the deadliest tsunami in recorded history, the 56-year-old Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and Japan's Meteorological Agency -- which usually monitor only the Pacific Ocean -- began sending information and warnings to a number of Indian Ocean nations which had asked for help, said Delores Clark, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under which the PTWC falls.

In addition, UNESCO is hammering out a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean, trying to get a network of 27 nations bordering the sea to work together. They hope to have it running by July of next year.

[Courtnee]

[MsOrange]

wow, it's been 6 months already?