World marks year since tsunami roared ashore, killing 216,000

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The world's grief and compassion returned to the Indian Ocean's tsunami-battered shores Monday, marking a year since giant waves crashed ashore in a dozen countries, laying waste to communities and sweeping away at least 216,000 lives.

Beside gentle seas that belied the fury unleashed last December 26, survivors, friends and relatives commemorated the lost lives and destruction from one of the worst natural disasters in memory. World leaders sent condolences.

In Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra island, the closest land to the magnitude 9 quake that spawned the waves, the president sounded a tsunami warning siren to start a minute's silence at 8:16 A.M. (0116 GMT) - the moment the first wave struck.

"It was under the same blue sky, exactly one year ago that Mother Earth unleashed her most destructive power upon us," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said. "The assault began with a massive earthquake but... that was only a prelude to the horrific catastrophe to come."

more...