The 20-year-old freshman student was still asleep that Sunday morning at the family’s house on the Andaman Sea coast of

One of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami marks its 20th anniversary on Dec. 26

A 9.1-magnitude earthquake on 26 December 2004 caused a tsunami which hit a dozen countries and killed some 220,000 people. Our colleagues at France 2 take a look back at the unprecedented tragedy and some the lessons learnt.

Survivors and mourners gathered at mass graves in Indonesia, Thailand and other places along the Indian Ocean that were devastated by the 2004 tsunami — the deadliest in the world.

Christmas in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered tsunami waves that killed some 230,000 people across a dozen countries.

I don’t wish ever a disaster of this magnitude on anyone,” one woman said. But the 2004 Asian tsunami also made her realize "there’s more to this world, and it’s about love.”

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Almost 1,000 kilometers off the Thai coast devastated by a tsunami 20 years ago, engineers lower a detection buoy into the waves—a key link in a warning system intended to ensure no disaster is as deadly again.

Video. Crowds gathered as they took part in a candlelight vigil on Thursday in the Thai village of Ban Nam Khem to mark 20 years since the massive Indian Ocean tsunami hit the region in one of modern history’s worst natural disasters.

The powerful earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami that impacted a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa.

The Boxing Day tsunami interrupted a civil war, triggered the worst rail accident in history and shattered the lives of millions. Twenty years on, those who escaped certain death share their stories.

Prach Sawangpong, a teacher at Rajaprajanugroh 35 School who is the boarding school's emergency response coordinator, said the school's staff and students were lucky that the tsunami struck on Dec 26, 2004 -- which happened to be a Sunday -- so the school's grounds were mostly empty.