Asia to mourn tsunami dead with ceremonies on 20th anniversary
Voice of America
Fishermen pull nets at Gampong Jawa beach, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on Dec. 25, 2024.
Emotional ceremonies were expected across Asia on Thursday to remember the 220,000 people who died two decades ago when a tsunami devastated coastal areas around the Indian Ocean in one of the worst natural disasters in human history.
People inspect the site of reported Israeli bombardment on tents sheltering Palestinians displaced from Beit Lahia at a camp in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 25, 2024.
A fire breaks out in the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Dec. 24, 2024. (Md. Jamal for VOA) Rohingya refugees at the Cox’s Bazar camp in the aftermath of a devastating fire that killed two people and left thousands homeless, Dec. 24, 2024. (Md. Jamal for VOA) 80-year-old Rohingya refugee Amena Khatun recounts the story of losing her 60-year-old son Abu Hair to the fire in the Cox’s Bazar camp, Dec. 24, 2024. (Md. Jamal for VOA) A Rohingya refugee tries to douse a fire at the Cox’s Bazar camp, Dec. 24, 2024. (Md. Jamal for VOA) Rohingya refugees savage their belongings at the Cox’s Bazar camp in the aftermath of a devastating fire that killed two people and left thousands homeless, Dec. 24, 2024. (Md. Jamal for VOA) Rohingya refugee Jahid Hossain, who lost his six-year-old grandson Burhanuddin in a fire at a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Dec. 24, 2024. (Md. Jamal for VOA) FILE - Fire burns in the Rohingya refugee camp in Balukhali in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 5, 2023.
FILE - Eugene Spector, Russian-born U.S. citizen already imprisoned in Russia on a bribery stands behind bars in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 20, 2020. Spector has been handed a second 15-year jail term for espionage, Russian news agencies reported on Dec. 24, 2024.
Israeli emergency services work at the scene of a missile strike that, according to Israel's military, was launched from Yemen and landed in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, Dec. 21, 2024. The Yemen-based Houthi militant group fired a ballistic missile at the Tel Aviv area on Dec. 25.
FILE - Bosnian Serb's lawmakers take part in the parliament session in Banja Luka, Dec. 10, 2021. Lawmakers, Dec. 25, 2024, ordered Serb representatives in state institutions to block decision-making and reform laws needed for the Balkan country's integration into the EU.
FILE - A man looks at the social media platform TikTok on his smartphone in Hanoi on October 6, 2023.
Loraine Mwanza, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), speaks at the launch of the USAID-Funded MISA Freedom of Expression Report at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Dec. 17, 2024. (Kathy Short for VOA)
FILE - Sheikh Hasina checks her watch as she waits for the official opening time to cast her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 7, 2024.
People take shelter at a metro station during an air raid alert, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, December 25, 2024.
FILE - A man looks at the social media platform TikTok on his smartphone in Hanoi on October 6, 2023.
Loraine Mwanza, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), speaks at the launch of the USAID-Funded MISA Freedom of Expression Report at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Dec. 17, 2024. (Kathy Short for VOA)