Prayers and tears mark 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — People gathered in prayer and visited mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday to mark 20 years since the massive Indian Ocean tsunami hit the region in one of modern history’s worst natural disasters. Many wept as they placed flowers at...

PHOTO COLLECTION: Asia Tsunami Anniversary

China and Japan agree to talks on security issues as they seek to mend ties

BEIJING (AP) — China and Japan agreed Wednesday to set up talks on often contentious security issues as they seek to improve a relationship riven in recent years by a range of issues, from territorial disputes to the discharge of water from Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant. ...

After 20 years, the post-tsunami generation stays vigilant for future disasters

LHOKNGA, Indonesia (AP) — Qurrata Ayuni, a 28-year-old survivor of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated her hometown two decades ago, has transformed her resilience into purpose. Defying Aceh's male-dominated coffee culture, she runs a café that serves as a welcoming space for everyone,...

20 years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, a boy found in the mud embraces being known as 'Baby 81'

KURUKKAL MADAM, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa...

AP PHOTOS: The scars of a 9.1 earthquake and tsunami continue to haunt Indians for decades

NAGAPATTINAM, India (AP) — He was a young boy playing cricket with friends on a beach around 9:30 in the morning when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake violently shook the earth, and a tsunami struck from Indonesia to India two decades ago. Life changed for Yusuf Ansari, now a 32-year-old...

Trauma lingers on for survivors of the deadly tsunami that hit Thailand 20 years ago

BAN NAM KHEM, Thailand (AP) — The 20-year-old freshman student was still asleep that Sunday morning at the family's house on the Andaman Sea coast of southern Thailand when her mom, sensing something wasn't right, woke her up saying they needed to leave right away. The day is...

The water was their livelihood. Now Thailand's sea nomads work to preserve a vanishing way of life

SURIN ISLANDS, Thailand (AP) — When Hook was a child, he started his days by jumping off the boat that his family lived on and into the ocean. By age 3, he could already swim and dive in shallow waters. His home was a kabang, a boat, that his family sailed in Thailand’s southern waters. The...

AP PHOTOS: Scenes of devastation from the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

On Dec. 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, causing a massive wave that devastated Asian coastal communities across thousands of miles. Some 230,000 people died as the tsunami leveled remote villages, ports and tourist resorts in Indonesia,...

Indonesians mark 2 decades since the tragic tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — 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 school teacher, was only 17 at the time. Her father, who was a...