4th anniversary of Asian Tsunami

The fourth anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 230,000 people is being marked. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra Island on Boxing Day in 2004 subsequently created giant walls of waves rippling in the Indian Ocean, leaving hundreds of thousands more injured or homeless. In Thailand, one of the worst-hit countries, Buddhist, Christian and Islamic ceremonies were held along the country's Andaman coastal provinces while in Sri Lanka, a two-minute silence was observed at 9.25am local time. Preecha Ruangian, the governor of Phuket, presided over a ceremony in Patong beach on the southern coastal island, where survivors and relatives of the victims gathered to pay tribute to those who died. About half of the 5,395 deaths in Thailand were foreigners who were residing or holidaying in resorts along the famous beach. Thailand has since erected around 79 tsunami warning towers along its Andaman sea coast and 48 towers along the Gulf of Thailand to try to reassure resident and the 13 million tourists who visit the country each year. British survivor Stephen Sumpion said: "We feel very sad, very confused. We didn't know what was happening at first. But then, as the day progressed, we found out there have been a big wave. "We went up to the mountain and stayed up there most of the day. But then the next day we came back there was total devastation. But the Thai people got it all together and within a week new year's went ahead. "And I came back the next year to buy a house and everything was put back together. All of the shops were opened, all the roads were opened. Within a year, everything was back to normal." Meanwhile, Oxfam has said it will finish its relief response to the tsunami at the end of the month. The international charity received £155 million in donations to help affected people. A spokesman said: "We decided four years was the amount of time it would take to spend the money responsibly. Although this particular pot of money has been finished, if there is a need we will start new programmes." The money helped to assist 2.5 million people in seven tsunami-affected countries, including Sri Lanka and India. It provided clean water and sanitation to people displaced by the disaster and allowed houses and schools to be rebuilt.

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ITN | December 26, 2008

Tags:. .UK News. .beach. .donations. .andaman. .patong