Phuket –
Annual religious ceremonies were held at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Maikhao for the 19th year of remembrance for the victims of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami in Phuket.
Three religious ceremonies which were Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam were held yesterday morning (December 26th) at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao, Thalang in remembrance of the 19 years since the tragic tsunami on Phuket Island and nearby provinces.
Apart from religious ceremonies, the national flags of 45 countries whose people were among the victims were erected at the ceremonial site. Participants were standing still for one minute to remember the victims. Flowers were placed on the wall to remember those lost in the incident.
In Thailand, officially released numbers from the Thai Government stated that there were 5,078 confirmed dead, another 8,457 injured and 3,716 missing, presumed dead, all lost to the tsunami. Unofficial numbers mark the missing as significantly higher and memorials to those are common in affected areas.
Even now, many years later, hundreds of Thai tsunami victims remain unidentified despite large efforts by forensic teams to do so from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit.
Many Andaman coastal provinces on December 26th offered tributes to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
We here at The Phuket Express give condolences to the survivors and family members of the victims and take a moment today to remember all those whose lives were tragically affected by this disaster which, even nineteen years later, is still fresh in the mind of many.
