Families of Boxing Day tsunami victims weep as they mark 20th anniversary of one of the world’s worst natural disasters
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MOURNERS wept today as they marked the 20th anniversary of the Boxing Day tsunami which killed 230,000. They gathered along shores to honour those who died when huge waves triggered by a 9.2-magnitude underwater earthquake hit land. At least 150 Britons died after the third most powerful tremor ever recorded struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra in 2004 and triggered one of the deadliest natural disasters.
![[Women offer prayers for the victims of the 2004 tsunami on the 20th anniversary of the disaster at a beach in Chennai, India]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2004-indian-ocean-tsunami-20th-959831125.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia, where waves were over 100ft high on landfall. Parts of India, Sri Lanka and Thailand were also devastated and more than 1.7million people lost their homes. John May’s backpacking daughter, Lisa, 25, of Cheltenham, Gloucs, was among the victims. He flew to Thailand in its wake to find her body and bring it home.
![[Milk offering is poured into Bay of Bengal, India]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NINTCHDBPICT000959823012.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
He said: “It seems almost as real today as it was all those years ago. Lisa will always be in our hearts and remain forever young.”. Dorothy Wilkinson, 56, whose partner and his parents were killed in Thailand, said of attending a memorial event: “It makes me happy to come . . . a bit sad. It’s celebrating their life.”.
![[Family members of a 2004 tsunami victim weep at a ceremony in Thailand]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/000-lives-internally-displaced-half-959824509.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
British surfer Daniel Poole, 44, was in Sri Lanka when the waves crashed into the guest house he was sharing with his now wife. He said: “I leapt out of bed to the window to see a great wall of white water, as tall as our single-storey building, rolling up and then crashing up the beach.
![[Candlelight vigil a at memorial park in Ban Nam Khem, Thailand]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2004-indian-ocean-tsunami-hold-959893740.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
