Asia marks 10 years of Indian Ocean tsunami

See this interactive map below showcasing the places hit hard by the tsunami.

In this December 28, 2004 file photo, rescue and clean-up crew survey a flooded lobby at the Seapearl Beach Hotel along Patong Beach on Phuket Island, Thailand, after massive tsunami waves smashed coastlines Sunday morning. (Source: AP / CP, Deddeda Stemler, File)

As part of today’s solemn commemorations, survivors, government officials, diplomats and families of victims gathered in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and elsewhere. Moments of silence were planned in several spots to mark the exact time the tsunami struck.

The disaster was triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake, the region’s most powerful in 40 years, that tore open the seabed bed off of Indonesia’s Sumatran coast, displacing billions of tons of water and sending waves roaring across the Indian Ocean at jetliner speeds as far away as East Africa.

The disaster was triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake, the region’s most powerful in 40 years. (Source: AP)

Indonesia’s Aceh province was hit first and hardest. The sea rose as high as 10 meters (33 feet) and surged inland for kilometers (miles) with seemingly unstoppable force, carrying along trees, houses, train cars — and thousands of people — in a churning rush.

.Map of the Indian Ocean showing a computer-generated model from NOAA measuring maximum wave height for the 2004 tsunami.

Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla attended a ceremony in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, today in which sashes were distributed to the ambassadors of countries that assisted in the massive recovery effort 10 years ago. More than 160,000 people died in Indonesia, more than half of the total 230,000 people killed across the region.

An Indian woman mourns the death of her relative (L) who was killed in tsunami on Sunday in Cuddalore, some 180 km (112 miles) south of the southern Indian city of Madras in this December 28, 2004 file photo. (Source: REUTERS/Arko Datta/Files)

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In Thailand, more than 5,000 people were killed, about half of whom were tourists celebrating the day after Christmas on the country’s renowned white-sand beaches. In Sri Lanka, the water swept a passenger train from its tracks, killing nearly 2,000 people in a single blow. A symbolic recreation of the train journey was planned as part of today’s ceremonies.